The Dance called Life
by etowa-ru
Summary: Sana McEwan, after a fire that leaves her an orphan, gets adopted by her mother's best friend, Angeline Fowl. As she enters the world of the Fowls, what will happen to her?
1. The fire that started it all

**Heya people!**

**It's my first story, so be nice and review. ^^ I don't care if you flame, as long as it's constructive flaming. If that makes sense. :P but reviewing can come later. First, read my story!**

**The title of the story's supposed to mean that life is like a dance. Thought you might like to know. :D And also that my chapter names reflect what's going on in the chapter. Thought you might like to know that too. XD**

**Without further ado, I present to you Chapter One of The Dance Called Life!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl. I wish I did though...**

* * *

Under a clear night sky, a girl with brown hair rode her bicycle along the outskirts of Dublin, pedalling furiously. If someone had been outside just as she rode past them, they would have heard her muttering angrily under her breath.

As it happened, no one was around to see Sana whizzing along on her bike, legs pumping as she attempted to abate some of the anger she felt when Monsieur picked someone else dance the role that she had wanted for _ages_ for the upcoming performance_. _But seriously, how dare he pick Clover for the solo part?

Everyone knew she deserved the part, working hard to become one of the best dancers in the class. True, she had wobbled in her arabesque, and landed a bit heavily on her pirouette, but Clover had fallen over just trying one!

Sana scowled. Just because Monsieur thought her face wasn't delicate enough for a fairy queen. Just because she had dark brown hair and a nose leaning towards the stronger side in the spectrum of noses. Just because Clover's nose was a delicate slip, skin creamy porcelain, face a perfect oval. But silvery-blond hair and blue eyes does not a fairy queen make.

_Well_, Sana admitted to herself grudgingly, _Monsieur __had__ said something about me being more of a jumping, spinning dancer than one that based their dancing on their line, but… it wouldn't have hurt to let me be the fairy queen, would it?_

A chilly breeze blew past Sana, wakening her to her surroundings. She looked around, noticing that the houses had disappeared. It was all countryside now, with a large tree blocking her view of the road beyond. It had a nice orange tinge to it. Sana smiled. _I'm nearly home._

_Wait... orange glow? At eight o'clock? In March?_ In trepidation, Sana pedalled hard, and as she sped down the road, she looked up.

The first thing she saw was a burning building. Then realised it was her home. The fired roared along the roof, blazed through windows, happily burning everything in its path, ignoring the efforts of the fire fighters below trying to subdue it. As the situation finally reached her brain, Sana's grip loosened and her bike clattered to the ground. She ran towards her home, but a fire fighter grabbed her arm.

"Hey, you can't go near there! The roof's unstable and the whole house might collapse any time now!" Sana fought the grip on her arm. This couldn't be happening! Her house couldn't be on fire! Her parents were still in there! The fire fighter restrained her until Sana stopped struggling and began staring into the fire. The fire fighter let her go, ready to grab her if she made another dash for it, but she just stood there, gazing at the fire earnestly, as if waiting for something to happen.

One hand still gripping her arm, the fire fighter looked around until he spotted his team leader. "Stay here, OK?"

Sana nodded dumbly. He led her to the kerb and sat her down, running over to the leader.

"Jess, there's a kid over there. I'll go talk to her, yeah?"

"Sure. You know what to do. The police are going to be here soon, so just help her and stuff." Jess stopped and frowned as a section of the roof collapsed. Throughout the whole exchange, her attention had never wavered away from the fire. No one _ever_ knew what fire would do. It was the most unpredictable element in the world. Now, as the fire steadied, Jess spared a glance at Sana.

"Weren't you going to talk to her?"

"Um, yeah…" David jogged away.

Jess spared another glance at Sana. The girl was still staring at the fire as if staring at it hard enough would be enough to stop the fire. She was lucky that she hadn't been in the house when the fire started. It was a good thing that the rich people all lived isolated, or it could have burnt down many other homes. Jess adjusted her grip on the hose and wiped some soot away from her visor. Then she battled on.

David plonked himself down next to Sana. For a while they sat silently, both of them staring at the burning building, and then he turned to her and asked gently, "I'm David. What's your name?"

Sana answered quietly, "Sana."

The two continued to sit there on the kerb, Sana tensely, David awkwardly. He glanced at the girl again, flames reflected in her eyes. He shivered. _It's like she's forgotten everything around her,_ David thought. _The only thing she cares about right now is the fire._

As part of his duty, David sat next to Sana, even though what he wanted to do the most was to join his teammates and help extinguish the fire. He attempted to break the silence between them.

"Was anyone at home?"

Sana kept her eyes on the fire. "My parents, my dog. I'm going to have a baby brother in four months."

David did not miss her use of 'I'm'.

"We think the fire started because of a forgotten stove, or a log that rolled out of the fireplace." David said, trying to distract the girl from the fire, but to no avail. He gave up talking and sat there next to her, just in case she decided to do something stupid in grief or rage.

Slowly, but steadily, the flames began to die down, until all that was left was a smoking, charred black hull of a house. At that moment, David felt the girl next to him deflate. He looked over at her. Sana sat slumped, as if all the energy in her had left her in one instant. David looked at her in alarm.

Just as he was about to try talk to her again, the police arrived. David stood up and beckoned one over. He was ashamed to feel relieved that he wouldn't have to look after the girl any longer, but he wasn't used to treating people who acted so _peculiarly_. The people he looked after usually just cried, or tried to run back into the fire, or did something. Not stare into the fire and then collapse. The police officer reached David and shook his hand.

"You guys did a good job containing this fire. Did anyone get out?" The officer smiled warmly at David.

"No, no one got out." The smile faded. David gestured towards Sana. "Her name's Sana, and I think she's the only survivor of this fire. She said that both her parents were home, and she's an only child. She wasn't at home at the time."

"OK, we'll take care of her. Leave her to us."

David walked sombrely back to his team. The fire fighters stood in a group facing the black sooty mass smoking in front of them, heads bare to pay respect to the two who had perished. David sent a quick prayer up to God, hoping that the two souls would find peace quickly. After one last bow, the group began to climb back into the fire truck. Later that night, back in his bed, David would wonder about the quiet girl who didn't cry but was breaking up inside.

* * *

Sana woke up, dimly hearing birds chirping outside the window. Where was she? The soft surface of the bed felt so vast she felt like she was sleeping on clouds. Sana slowly opened her eyes to see swathes of white fabric floating in mid-air. After a while, the shadows of wooden beams became visible through the hangings.

Sana frowned. Why would she be lying in a white canopy bed? Her duvet was patterned. Her bed wasn't some fancy canopy bed; it was a homey bed. A warm, heavy presence was missing from her feet. Where was Pear? Sana's frown cleared. Pear must have been taken out on a walk by her parents. The frown returned. Her parents never walked her dog. What was going on? Where was Ma and Da?

With that thought, the events of the last twelve hours broke a dam in her memory and washed over her...

Sana sat in front of a desk like the ones in the police movies where they interrogated the suspects. Only the bright light shining in her face was missing, and instead of a bulldog-look-a-like police officer, a kind one sat opposite her instead.

The police officer, Wilhelmina (who told Sana to call her Hilly), explained, 'Yes, I'm sorry about asking you about your family after your tragic loss, but I really have to take down all the details I can get about your family and what happened before the accident.'

Sana felt curiously detached from the whole situation, as if she was in a glass bottle watching the world swirl about her until it had swept her up, glass bottle and all, and carried her to this place of no-emotions.

'So now, please answer as truthfully as you can, okay?' Hilly then took out a clipboard and prepared to take notes as Sana answered her questions.

'What's your name?'

Sana answered mechanically. 'Sana Aine McEwan.' She looked down at the ground.

'Birthday?'

'7th of March, 1990.'

'That would make you… nearly ten?'

'Yes.' Sana felt her heart twist recollecting the excited looks her parents had been sharing for the past couple of weeks. She had no doubt that they had been planning a surprise for her.

Maybe her heart was working after all.

'And your parents' names, ages and occupations?

'Adam McEwan, 36, father, architect and Rowan McEwan, 36, mother, lawyer.' They had always told her they were parents first and everything else second.

'Do you have any living relatives? No?' Hilly noticed Sana's lack of movement, and sighed, taking the girl's lack of movement as an affirmative. She hated telling children their options when they had no living relatives. She looked over at the young girl, looking as though she had the miseries of the world on her shoulders, even though Sana's composure had not slipped once. Hilly sighed and glanced at her clipboard, then gathering herself, she spoke.

'Sana,' Hilly began. It came out scratchy and awkward. Hilly cleared her throat and tried again. 'Sana, because you've got no living relations, you'll need to go to a children's hostel until we find a foster family for you, until you get adopted or until you turn 18. But because your 18th's so far away, you'll probably become a foster child. For tonight, you'll stay with one of our Child Care volunteers, Joanne, who will be here soon, and she will take you to this hostel,' Hilly placed a brochure with a picture of a sickeningly sweet looking hostel on the table in front of Sana, 'Tomorrow. If you've got any questions, worries, or something, tell me now.'

Sana stared at the glossy brochure. Her voice came out hesitantly, 'My mum had a close friend who lived next door to us. Ma and Da always told me to go to them if anything happened. Can I go there?'

'Who's this?'

'Angeline Fowl.' The instant Sana uttered Angeline's name, Hilly's eyes widened and immediately picked up the phone.

'Let me call Angeline and ask if she'll take you in.'

Hilly pressed the numbers that would connect her to the Fowl residence. She would have never thought that she would one day be able to talk to the matriarch of the Fowl family, renowned for their wealth, their ruthlessness for gold and the legend of unbeatable bodyguards that shielded this family from the rest of the world.

The dial tone began to sound…

Kilometres away, over fields of grass and under the walls of one of the most protected estates in the country, the phone began to ring. Angeline Fowl came out of her reverie and reached for her handset on the bedside table next to her.

'Hello?'

Back at the police station, Hilly swallowed. Never had she ever heard such a musical, refined voice! 'Good evening, I'm Officer Wilhemina. Am I speaking to Angeline Fowl?' Her voice sounded positively gravelly.

Angeline frowned. 'Yes, speaking. What's happened?'

'There has been a fire in your neighbourhood, and the survivor of that fire, Sana, told me to contact you. Please come down to the station as soon as poss - .'

Angeline interrupted, 'What's wrong with Sana? You said there was a fire. What happened to Rowan and Adam?'

'Unfortunately, Sana was the only survivor of the fire. I'm sorry, but all other matters will be discussed here, at the station, when you arrive.'

'Yes, I'll be there as soon as I can,' answered Angeline vaguely.

'Good night, Mrs. Fowl.' The phone call terminated with a soft click.

Hilly put down the phone and looked up. 'Sana,' she said softly, 'Angeline said that she would be arriving soon. Before she comes, would you like a drink?' Without waiting for Sana's assent, Hilly left the room to get water.

Back at Fowl Manor, Angeline slowly put down the handset. The McEwans, dead? Sana, orphaned? Angeline stared at the wall opposite her in shock, the words of the police officer swirling around in her mind until it became a soupy mess. Rowan and Adam couldn't be dead! Rowan can't be dead.

Sure, they had talked about what to do if one of them died, but it was too soon! They were only in their thirties! How could anyone take them away at such an age, let alone two of the most beautiful and kindly of all the people on Earth? How about Sana? Why would anyone take the parents from a child so full of life? Sana! She had to get to Sana!

Snapping out of her stupor, Angeline called her husband.

'Timmy, I need to go out for a while.'

'Why? What's wrong? Where are you going?'

'I need to go to the police station. Rowan and Adam's died in a fire. Sana's now an orphan and I want her to be able to come here and grieve for her family in peace here, not in some police station.' She started to cry softly. Artemis Fowl Senior gently wiped away her tears.

'Go. Get Major to come with you. And are you really going out dressed like that?' Artemis looked down at his wife's attire, a silk chemise that skimmed her thighs. 'At least put something else on.' But Angeline was already gone.

Ten minutes later, a black Bentley drove up to the front. The back door opened, and a tall, graceful woman stepped out on to the pavement. Long hair swished past as Angeline rushed into the building, not caring that she was barefoot, half naked or that all the officers in the building had stopped their work to gawp at her.

She hurried to the desk, located where Sana was, and a few seconds later, Sana found herself enveloped in a hug that was as familiar to her as her own mother's. Finally, the glass bottle shattered and all the feelings Sana had locked up broke open. Sana began to cry, and for a while, all Angeline did was rock Sana back and forth gently, stroking her hair. Eventually, Sana's violent sobs gradually subsided, and Angeline directed her gaze at Hilly, wiping away her own tears.

'How long will it take for me to adopt Sana?' Angeline asked.

'It'll take at least nine months before you can formally adopt Sana,' Hilly answered. 'To do that, you have to submit a whole range of forms. Wait, let me get the folder first...' Hilly got up to go to the cabinet, but a movement near the door caught her eye. She stared. It seemed like the whole building was crammed around the door, gawping at this sight of female perfection. Hilly, grabbing a broom, brandished it at the crowd, until every person who had been standing at the door had been shooed away.

Throughout the commotion at the door, Angeline and Sana sat in their own little world, Angeline rocking Sana gently as if she were a small toddler, Sana giving a small hiccough every now and then. Hilly, fuming at the nerve of her teammates, searched for the folder containing adoption procedures, until the relevant documents were found and were placed in front of Angeline.

Hilly opened the folder none-too-roughly and took out the sheets. 'Mrs. Fowl, as you can see, before you can adopt Sana, you'll need to submit an assessment of your suitablity to adopt.' Hilly slid a sheet in front of Angeline. 'This outlines the details of what should be included in the assessment - '

'Excuse me,' Angeline interrupted, 'but I've already completed an assessment of suitability. When Rowan and I had submitted those forms in, in case a situation like this arose, we also requested not to put ourselves down for an adoption agency but just to remain open until the need arose. It was a lot more paperwork, but I have been approved already.'

Hilly blinked. 'Well then, if you've done that, then it'll go through in about four months. Still, to formalise this, you'll need to submit an application for an Adoption Order.' Hilly pushed another pile of sheets in front of Angeline, offering a pen to Angeline. 'If you fill that out, I'll be happy to send it in for you.'

Angeline methodically filled out the form. When she was done, Hilly placed it in an envelope and placed it on the side.

'When this reaches the Adoption Board, a social-worker will come to your house sometime while they're deciding whether they'll approve this application or not. The social-worker will write a report, and that will influence the success of your application.'

Angeline nodded in understanding, and then frowned. 'What about now? I've filled in the form, but where does Sana go now? Can she come home with me?'

'Yes,' Hilly asserted. 'The people who fill in these forms are allowed to take the child home with them.'

Angeline stood up. 'Let's go home, Sana.' Holding hands, the prospective mother and daughter left the station, and drove back to Fowl Manor, as familiar to Sana as her own home. Once there, Angeline led the girl down the hall to the guest room.

'This can be your room now. You'll be next to Arty, and then down the hall will be Timmy and me. If you need anything, you know where it is. Good night, Sana.' Tucking Sana into bed, Angeline kissed her forehead, and then left the room. Artemis Snr greeted her on the landing.

'Is she settled?'

'Yes.' Artemis Snr embraced his wife, and then led Angeline back to their room. 'Come on, go to sleep. It's late.' He stopped at the threshold. Angeline, pausing, turned back to face her husband.

'What's wrong?'

'I need to finish some business first. Good night.' Kissing his wife on the cheek, he turned and left. Angeline crawled back into bed and began to cry.

* * *

A knock sounded at Sana's door.

'Come in.'

Butler entered the room. 'Good morning, Sana. It's breakfast time.'

'Good morning, Butler.'

Butler turned to go, but paused and said, 'I'm sorry, Sana. Rowan and Adam were good people.' The door clicked shut.

At his words, Sana began to cry, then, for some strange reason, laugh.

A voice sounded in the midst of her teary laughter. 'Good morning, Sana. Please stop being hysterical, even though that is not the correct term for such expressions. Hysterics actually mean something else, but this is not the time for explanations, proven by your peculiar behaviour. Mother has told me the events which had occurred last night, which provides more evidence that this isn't the time for me to lecture you.

What I would like to say,' Artemis continued clinically, 'Is that I'm sorry for Adam and Rowan's deaths. They were good people. The world has lost two amazing people. Apart from that, welcome to the Fowl Empire.'

Sana hiccoughed and locked her eyes with a pair of brilliant blue eyes.

'Hello, Artemis.'

* * *

**So... what did you think of it? ****Anyway, hoped you liked it and hope you will continue reading it! :D**

**Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, all Fanfictioners! (Just in case I don't update closer to the actual date. ;] )**


	2. About funerals and chicken soup

**Thank you HappinessMachine, for giving me my first review! You rock!**

**Heya people! HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'm really excited about the NYE fireworks. Apparently they're going to have horizontal and zigzaggy fireworks this year. WhoooOOOooo!**

**Happy new year again, and have an awesome time celebrating!**

* * *

**Extracts from Artemis' video diary over the course of a week**

I can't believe that Adam and Rowan have passed away due to a fire started by an accident. Even now, no one really knows how the accident started. Some of the theories circulating about the fire include a log that rolled out of the fireplace or an overheated stove. Someone even suggested a 'carelessly thrown cigarette butt'. Don't people have better activities to attend rather than speculating about people's deaths?

On the other hand, Sana has been behaving rather calmly, albeit a calm that resembles a shell-shocked soldier. The officer at the station talking to Mother was seriously mistaken about the speed of the adoption process. She was calculating for normal people, but she forgot that we are Fowls. We being Fowls, the social worker has come and gone, the adoption papers have been finalised (after a little guidance on my father's behalf), but Sana...

Mother and Father have been acting like they have always had a younger daughter, influencing Butler and Major to follow their example, although I suspect that Butler has always had a soft spot on Sana. Maybe because she is the few people my age group that I talk to on a regular basis. Correction, she is the ONLY person my age who I talk with regularly. I don't need to follow anyone's example, for I have always seen her as a younger sister. For example, every time Rowan comes over to talk to Mother, Sana always tags along, and one of the reasons I get along with her is because she likes to read, which then creates conversation between her and me. Another reason is that I have been in her company for as long as I remember. She was born about half a year after me, so for as long as I can remember, Sana has been coming over to Fowl Manor with her mother. I taught her the alphabet as well as teaching her how to read and write properly as well as persuading her out of climbing the tree outside in the garden when we were six. After these incidences, how can I not consider as a younger sister? I confess, it disturbs me to see the normally energetic and cheerful Sana acting lost and miserable. Instead of exuding energy in her every movement, she now drifts like a ship in a fog. Instead of radiating some unidentifiable force, her energy and emotions seem to have been sucked out of her. I imagine that the funeral two days ago only contributed to Sana's condition.

Three nights ago, Mother informed Sana of the funeral held the next day. As Mother broke the news to Sana, Sana informed Mother that she would not wear black to the funeral, as Rowan and Adam had told her before that they wanted a colourful funeral. I recall that conversation as well, as it had been held in the Manor, instead of their bungalow. Mother agreed, and so the next day, we turned up in colour. Father could not attend, as he had a business meeting to participate in, but he offered his condolences to Sana before we left. Sana wore a short bottle green dress with short sleeves, Mother had a pale blue knee-length sleeveless dress on and I had put on a dark blue suit with a matching tie. I thought we would be quite out of place at the funeral, but when we arrived, we belonged to the more conservative group at the funeral. Even though it was a funeral, it looked more like a Christmas party. Some people wore bright colours like bright red and yellow, and some people looked like they were about to go to the beach. Only one person had black on, and that was the priest conducting the ceremony. Sana bore the whole ceremony stoically until the coffins were fully buried in the ground. As people patted her shoulder or shook her hand, her eyes began to lose focus, and at the end of the day, she had become like a ghost.

* * *

That was two days ago, and Sana still hasn't snapped out of her stupor. My room being next to hers, I can hear thrashing sometimes during her REM sleep. I suspect the cause to be nightmares. She can't stomach anything heavier than chicken broth, and she hasn't come out of her room since the funeral. Mother is getting more and more worried. I can tell from the way she furrows her brow every time she looks at Sana's bedroom door. In truth, so am I.

* * *

It's been a week since the funeral, and Sana still isn't acting a little more like a normal person. In psychology books, they talk about how it all depends on the individual, but how the individual in question should seek professional help when their feelings of shock from the tragedy are extended over extremely long periods of time, which are frequently established at over four weeks. I wonder if Sana would be one of those people needing professional help. Then again, I suspect that she is more resilient. Sana is too cheerful for long, drawn out pessimism. I predict that she will resume a more normal state of mind within the next few days. And I have nearly always been right.

* * *

It took Sana nine days to begin functioning like a human. She still can't eat breakfast, but she's come out of her room and she's been eating bits of lunch and dinner. So I was right. As per usual. I expect that I will continue being correct 99% of the time for the rest of my life, leaving 1% to allow for human error. After all, I am human.

* * *

Sana walked into the dining room in time for lunch for the first time in nine days and sat down in her seat across from Artemis. Everyone stared, not believing their eyes.

Butler was the first to react. "Good afternoon, Sana. Would you like lunch?"

Sana nodded. Butler turned, and while entering the kitchen, presumably to prepare a plate for Sana, she looked around at the faces at the table. The seat at one head of the table was empty, but the other was occupied by Angeline. She could feel Artemis studying her from across the table.

Angeline smiled tentatively. 'Hello, Sana. How have you been?' Sana took a notepad out and began to write on it. Angeline and Artemis frowned. Finally, Sana was done and held up her notepad in Angeline's direction.

_I'm OK now. Sorry for making you worry, Aunty Angeline. And thankyou for taking me in._

'That's fine. Rowan would have done the same for me. Don't call me Aunty Angeline. Makes me sound so distant. Just call me Angeline, okay?' Sana nodded. Angeline hesitated. 'Sana? Why are you writing down your answers?'

_I don't know why, but I can't talk._

Angeline read the reply and turned to her son, asking anxiously, 'What's wrong with her? Why can't she talk?'

Artemis frowned deeper. 'It is probable that this isn't a physical problem and more of a psychological issue. The shock of Adam and Rowan's deaths may have impacted so heavily on Sana's mind that her mind has shut down her voice box, therefore disabling her ability to speak.'

'Can't we do anything?'

Artemis sighed. 'No, unfortunately. This can only be solved by Sana, and Sana alone. Even if we want to, we can't help anyone cure a psychological problem.' He turned back to Sana, who looked at him in horror.

_Did that all mean that I can't talk anymore?_

'No. You can talk, but when you can start talking depends on when your mind lets you go.'

Butler came out of the kitchen, and Sana began to eat her lunch silently. The dining room became silent, broken only by the sound of cutlery on crockery.

**

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**

Thanks to all the people who reviewed. You made my day.

**Actually, it's really hard writing as Artemis. All the nonchalant, casual use of big words (I just used some!) really make my brain work harder than usual!**

**And to Mystery Loser, I spell curb 'kerb' because that's how Australia spells it, and I'm Australian :] I'm glad you're considering reading my story though, it makes me happy, for lack of a better word :P Anyway, when you do decide to continue on, I hope you see this and that I hope you enjoy it :] Next time you review, could you please sign in/leave an email or something so I can reply to you personally? :D Thanks! ^^**


	3. Becoming a fully fledged Fowl I

_Hey now, you're an All Star get your game on, go play_

_Hey now, you're a rock star get your show on, get paid..._

Sana jogged around the Fowl estates to the rhythm of 'All Star' blaring through her Walkman, which she had had with her on the day of the fire. It had been a month since she had first come out of her room, a month since she had discovered she couldn't speak. Angeline had been hugely supportive, even insisting that Sana kept being a McEwan, her reason being "Sana, even though you're legally a Fowl, I don't want you changing your name, not because you're not an accepted part of the family, but because it is your only link back to your parents. I don't want you to forget your parents. No, not at all…" Sana had accepted it gratefully. Not that she would be able to forget her parents even if she wanted to. Sana was secretly glad that Angeline hadn't forced her to her name, as it kept her parents' memories alive every time they were mentioned. Even though it still hurt whenever she thought of Adam and Rowan, she would never wish to forget them. Sana jogged back into the manor, just in time for breakfast.

"Good morning, Sana," greeted Butler as Sana flopped into her chair, "Good run?"

Sana grabbed her notepad lying on the table. _Yep. _They had this exchange every morning after Sana came back in from her run. _Arty should come with me some morning_ she added, drawing a wicked grin next to the comment.

"What was that, Sana? I saw my name.' Artemis walked into the room wearing a white polo top and cream pants. "What did you write on your notepad?" He slid into his seat opposite Sana. He still could not get used to the fact that Sana could only talk through pen and paper, still could not get used to her conveying her smiles through drawings on paper. She had not smiled since her parent's funeral a month ago.

Sana showed him her paper. Reading it, his eyebrows rose, and shook his head as he eyed her sweaty form. "My energy is needed for my mental exercises. I do not need physical exercise, nor will I need it."

Sana bent her head over her piece of paper, scribbling madly. _But it's good for you! It's proven that exercise releases endorphins, making you happier and less stressful! And you get fitter, improving your heart and muscles and stuff._

"I meditate to release stress. I don't need to improve my cardiovascular capabilities or my _stuff_."

_That's because you can't be bothered and because you're so unfit you can't even run down the stairs without puffing._

As they continued their one-sided bickering, Butler placed their breakfasts, hot-from-the-crumpet-maker crumpets with Canadian maple syrup and butter, in front of them. Sana, smelling food, stopped listening to Artemis, who was listing out why he had no need of exercise, and started eating. Artemis kept talking until Sana finished and handed her plate back to Butler, writing out a request for seconds. He glared at Sana as he started to eat his now cold crumpets. As he ate, Artemis noticed that the dining room was empty except for Sana and him.

"Butler, where is Mother?"

Butler, returning back into the room with Sana's crumpets, answered, "She told me not to prepare breakfast for her because she has a headache. " Artemis frowned. Today would be the second time that Mother had skipped a meal because of a headache.

Sana made a vague hand movement. Artemis, interpreting it correctly, replied absentmindedly, "Yes, I think so. She'll be fine by lunch." Standing up, Sana took her dirty plates to the kitchen and put them into the sink. She was about to wash the dishes when Butler stopped her.

"Don't worry about that. We have a maid for it."

Sana stared, puzzled for a minute, then nodded at him and left. She was accustomed to washing the dishes at home, since her parents had insisted on bringing Sana up like a normal child, instead of a spoiled, pampered one. Her home had been a one storey bungalow with two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a library and a double garage. Even though the house was considerably smaller than Fowl Manor, they had lands as big as their neighbours, which meant that Sana had had huge areas in which to walk, jog, swim (they had a pool), ride or do anything they wanted to. In fact, the land was still legally Sana's, but Artemis had advised her to lease it out, and she had done so. Sana entered her room, her mind projecting colours and paintings on the walls.

_Strong arms lifted her up. 'Sana, you like your room?' Adam McEwan swung his daughter around, both of them laughing in delight._

_'I love it, Daddy! How d'you know I wanted a green room? It's so pretty!'_

_Adam winked conspiratorily. 'I have my ways.' He put Sana down heavily. 'Ugh. You're getting heavy, Sana. Soon I won't be able to do that. Anyway, happy birthday!'_

Sana wiped her eyes dry. Looking around the completely white room despondently, Sana could not bear to live in such a clinical environment anymore, deciding to redecorate her room to her tastes. She began to make a list of what she wanted her room to be like, the repetitive nature of the list-making taking her mind off the turmoil that the memory had evoked. When she was finished, she ran out of her room, dashing down the hallway to the Fowl parents' rooms. Sana paused for breath, then, sweeping her hair out of her face, she knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Sana entered, hesitating at the doorway. The curtains were closed, and, blinking to acclimatize to the darkness, she made out Angeline's form lying in bed. Stepping carefully by swiftly between the vines patterned on the carpet, a habit she had picked up from Artemis, Sana reached the bed and sat down.

_Are you okay, Angeline?_

Angeline turned towards Sana, slowly reading her words. "Yes, Sana, I'm fine. Just feeling a little under the weather today, that's all."

_Can I redecorate my room?_ Angeline smiled at the statement, reaching up to smooth Sana's hair.

"Of course you can. Do whatever you want to your room. That area's yours."

Sana kissed Angeline's cheek in gratitude and then, flying back over the vines, she collected a few things, including Artemis and Butler, before leaving the Manor, leaving Angeline behind to wallow in her own personal sorrows.

***

Sana walked through the aisles in Dublin's largest hardware store. Behind her, Artemis trailed behind, complaining to Butler.

"Why am I here? How did I get myself here? One minute, I'm at my computer writing a draft for the new psychological analyst book, and the next minute, I'm in the Bentley on the way to Dublin! Why do I let her drag me around? Why didn't I refuse to come? Why…" Artemis continued his rant until Butler tapped him on the shoulder.

"I think Sana needs to talk to you. She's beckoning." With that, Artemis stopped his tirade and walked over calmly.

Sana took out her pen. _You look so cute when you switched the emotions on your face from angry and pissed to calm and collected_. Sana ruffled his hair.

Artemis reached up and smoothed his hair down. "Stop ruffling my hair!"

_What else have you got to complain about me? Your little rant was pretty entertaining._

"Nothing," he replied, flushing at her comment. Sana wasn't even listening anymore.

_Look! Don't you think that colour would look awesome on my walls?_ _It looks just like the sea! _Sana thrust a colour strip in front of Artemis' face, covered all over with comments. Artemis looked at the colour strip carefully.

"I presume it is the second one from the top?"

Sana nodded, pointing to the colour he had mentioned_. _She left the strip in Artemis' hands and stood there, looking at the strips of colour, picking out various colours and placing them next to one another. Artemis stood there, looking confused.

Sana, seeing the look, queried, _What's wrong?_ She held her notepad awkwardly, trying to balance it between all the colour strips she had taken from the wall.

"What are you doing?"

_I'm redecorating my room. I've already asked Angeline, and she said yes, so it's all good!_

As Sana collected and amassed a large collection of items, including ten 10L tins of both 'Sand White' and 'Aquamarine Blue' as well as, inexplicably, midnight blue, it fell onto Artemis and Butler to push the trolley containing everything. Actually, Butler was doing the actual work. Artemis just placed his hand on the side of the trolley. He looked around the hardware store. All the decorating done in the manor was done by professionals, so Artemis had never needed to go to a hardware store. He couldn't believe how many people were there, buying parts to a light, paints, even planks of wood. So many people, wasting their time in redecorating their homes, when that time could be used productively to help solve the world's problems, such as the economic inflation. Maybe it was a form of relaxation, redecorating their homes. Artemis jotted that thought down mentally. It could prove to be an invaluable research topic to the psychological analysis article that he was writing at the moment.

His reverie was interrupted by Sana.

_Hello, Earth to Artemis!! Are you still with us?_ She wrote, waving her notepad in front of his face.

'Yes, I'm still here. What do you want?'

_Good. We can go now. Would your majesty deign to walk towards the cash registers?_ she joked, drawing a smiley next to the comment.

Artemis sighed, then looked around, saw the registers and guided the trolley towards a queue-less register. As Sana unloaded the trolley, Artemis observed his surroundings. Most of the other people in the store were families with children or teenagers. He glanced at his companions. They certainly looked the family, albeit one with a very large 'father' and twins. Finally, Sana was done.

The cashier told Butler, "It's €1324 altogether, sir." Butler raised an eyebrow.

Sana gestured to the trolley, with Artemis interpreting (correctly) the gesture as a request for Artemis and Butler to start loading the trolley. Artemis nodded, and, as they obeyed, Sana turned back to the cashier, pulled out a credit card and handed it over the counter.

_Here you go._ The cashier, looking bemused, charged it to her account. Sana signed the receipt, then, putting her card back into her wallet, took charge.

_Let's go. I still need to go to get fabric._ And so, after unloading the trolley's contents into the back of the Bentley, Butler found himself driving to the fabric store. There, Sana dallied until she selected striped and dotted poly-cotton blends, white organza and blue-green chiffon, as well a variety of different buckles, buttons and whatnot. Buying the whole roll of fabric for each, Sana racked up a total of € 739. The cashier looked slightly stunned. The other people in the register lines seemed to be amazed that such a young girl was paying with a credit card. Their amazement congealed when Sana signed the receipt instead of Butler, the only adult in their party. Artemis, oblivious to the atmosphere in the store, looked around in interest. He felt no particular emotion to this shopping spree, knowing already that she had her own account and card. In fact, Artemis did too; he just didn't go shopping.

Finally, the Bentley arrived back to Fowl Manor. All three of them carried items up to Sana's room, taking multiple trips to deposit everything at their destination. Butler carried most of the heavier objects. The only things Artemis carried were the buckles and buttons from the fabric store. When the last roll of fabric, the last tin of paint, had arrived in Sana's room, she wiped the sweat of her forehead, writing, _Thanks, esp. you, Arty, for actually coming with me. Butler, you know you're wonderful. I'll start decorating tomorrow. If I need any help, which I probably won't, I'll just need your help, Arty. Butler, I won't distract you from your other jobs. So yeah. Thanks!_

Artemis fervently hoped that she wouldn't need any help tomorrow. As he left the room, he heard Sana write something, then call a number, Butler talking for her.

"Hello, is this Build-a-dream? I need to place an order for around 1000 glass bricks…" Hearing that, Artemis' heart sank. His immediate future seemed dark indeed.


	4. Becoming a fully fledged Fowl II

**Hiya people!**

**I'm extremely sorry for the long break in the middle between this chapter and the last one!! It will never happen again!! Unless there are circunstances that arise that prevent me from typing...**

**Thanks to Green_Waterfall for noticing that Ireland doesn't use dollars. They use Euros, and I've changed it accordingly. Thank you!!!**

**Quite a long chapter, so enjoy! I must say though, from now on, I will try to make every chapter 2000+ words. I know the pain of reading short chapters, so I promise to deliver good long chapters from here onwards.**

**Enjoy! **

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The next day, after Sana's shopping spree, Artemis was woken up by the sounds of something heavy being dragged past his bedroom door. Stretching cat-like, he sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Another loud thump sounded. Puzzled, Artemis hauled himself out of bed and stumbled towards the door. Before reaching the door, he had already formulated several reasons as to why the sounds were occurring, and reaching a conclusion (the most likely reason), he turned the knob and opened the door.

"Good morning, Sana."

Sana looked up. She let go of the bed and took out a mini whiteboard, complete with a marker and a whiteboard wiper. _Hi, Arty. How d'you know it was me? You just woke up_, she added, glancing at him in his Armani pyjamas.

Artemis smirked. "I knew it was you because of several reasons. One, no-one can bypass Butler's security system, except you and me. Of course, it could be a ruse from family enemies who had miraculously gotten past Butler's security devices and then stationed themselves outside my room just to wait for me to get up and investigate the sounds, but it is extremely improbable. I already knew you would be redecorating your room today, as you went shopping yesterday. For the redecorating, you would need to remove the furniture out of your room, and as your room is adjacent to mine, you're most likely to be the cause of the disturbance. Where did you get the whiteboard?"

_Yeah, yeah, alright. Unless I was a fake, and I wasn't Sana, and an assassin hired by 'family enemies' to kill you. And the whiteboard was a present from Angeline._

"How nice of Mother. And you can't be an assassin, because you are dragging a bed that I recognize." Seeing a pair of feet sticking out from the far side of the bed, he added, "With Butler's help."

A voice that wasn't Butler's deep gravelly voice answered. "That's where you're wrong." A blond smiling head poked out from the other side of the bed.

"Juliet! When did you get here?"

Juliet smiled wider. "I arrived late last night, and when I heard that Sana needed help, I volunteered. I mean, I haven't seen her for so long, and I needed to catch up with her. Only, I'll see you a lot more now that you're living here, won't I?" Juliet said, redirecting her attention to Sana.

Sana nodded at the girl, scrawling, _Yeah. If only Dad could see your new karate moves. He's always loved it when you came back to show us something new that you learnt from Madame Ko._ Sana showed Juliet the board, then wiped her board clean, looking down to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.

_"Juliet!" Rowan calls, opening the door and hugging her. "It's been a while!"_

_"Yeah. Six months since I last saw you guys?"_

_"Something like that." Rowan is pushed aside by a small, brown haired figure._

_"Jul! You're back!" Juliet bends down and hugs the girl._

_"Yep, I'm back." By now, Adam has joined his wife at the door._

_"Juliet! Anything new to show me?" he asks enthusiastically._

_"Yep, Mr. McEwan. I've got a few tricks to show you. I'll show you later."_

_"Sure! Looking forward to it!"_

_"You always are!" The group laughs and moves indoors._

Sana could practically smell her mother's fresh, clean scent and her father's warm, woody smell. She turned around, expecting them to be there, but all she saw was an empty corridor. She turned around despondently. Juliet clambered around the bed to pat Sana's shoulder. "Cheer up. He can see me, only just not from Earth."

Sana blinked hard, opening her eyes wide to try prevent the tears from falling out. _He's probably trying it up in Heaven. I can see him, standing there in his karate clothes, practicing it._

Juliet clambered back into position. "Artemis, if you're not helping, you can go back and sleep, or change and eat, or whatever you do, unless you want to risk getting your head or toe smashed by a random part of the bed that no one's ever known about."

Artemis retreated back into his room. Juliet met Sana's eyes and smiled. "Sana, ready?" She nodded. "On my count. 1… 2… 3!" And with that, Sana and Juliet lifted the bed up and progressed slowly down the corridor, with Artemis wondering where the two girls got the strength to move a solid oak bed complete with canopy poles.

A few hours later, after finishing an extremely satisfying breakfast, Artemis sat in the study, preparing to define a hitherto unknown element that he had discovered earlier in the week. Just as he was lighting up the Bunsen burner, music floated into the room. Listening closely, he could just make out 'Unchained Melody', with the most, ah, _interesting_ lyrics he had ever heard. Artemis opened the door, determined that it originated from Sana's room, and, navigating his way through the furniture, painting material and fabric packed into the hallway, reached the doorway to his destination. A scene worthy of a market met his eyes. A white sheet covered the carpet, draping itself over the skirting board and the doorway, a paint splattered stereo was loudly playing music, the wire trailing itself over the floor in a way that presented itself a risk to the two people in the room who were haphazardly balancing themselves paint tins on the top of wobbly ladders while rolling paint onto the walls. From the look of the white sheet on the floor, a lot of the paint had ended up on the floor. In fact, one paint tin had fallen over and rolled across the room, leaving behind a trail of white-yellow. From Juliet's mouth, the song poured into the room.

_Oh, my love,_

_My darling, I hunger for your_

_Touch, uh-oh, only tame_

_And tame your smile, so schmalling,_

_I want to go your mama,_

_Eh-oh, schtill maul, Ah –_

And so on. It was pure torture for Artemis, whose ears were accustomed to poetic lyrics married with soulful melodies. Covering his ears, Artemis turned to leave, only to hear the torturous sounds end. Juliet, although many people thought she was pretty, could not sing to save her life. The problem was that she sung very loudly, very off-key, and she never got the lyrics right. Puzzled to the sudden quiet, he turned around to find both Sana and Juliet standing inches behind him. Startled by their silent and sudden appearance behind him, Artemis took a step back and tripped on the stereo wire lying behind him. Juliet laughed, Sana twitched her lips. Artemis scowled and picked himself up from the floor.

_Since you're here already, why don't you come help me and Juliet? _wrote Sana.

"It's Juliet and me."

_Whatever._

Juliet grinned. "You're going to help Sana and me paint her room, aren't you, Artemis?"

Sana nodded and dragged Artemis over to the nearest wall, which was still mostly white and handed him a paint roller and a tin of yellow paint. Juliet followed, spouting instructions.

"You can start over here. If you can't reach the higher parts, go get a ladder from over there and start painting. Paint from the top down, and when you're done, see if the parts you've painted already are dry, then start painting the blue over it. Got that?" Without waiting for Artemis' reply, the two girls went back to where they was before and began painting again, Juliet humming under her breath. Artemis looked sceptically at the paint roller. Was this contraption the only thing that could paint a wall? Mentally calculating the areas, he figured that, at his arm span, he would probably take half an hour to paint one coating. Sighing, Artemis began to carry the sturdiest looking ladder over to the wall, trying to figure how to balance himself, let alone a full paint tin, on such a flimsy device. Gingerly climbing up the ladder, he leaned precariously over to dip the paint roller in, only to find the paint roller too big to fit into the tin. He looked more closely at Sana, who was closer to Artemis than Juliet. Finally, he noticed that she was painting from a shallow tray filled with paint. Artemis sighed again. He had never gotten the opportunity to say no.

An hour later, Sana clambered down the ladder and stretched upwards, rolling her shoulders. She had forgotten how tiring painting a wall was.

_"Sana, look at the walls! Isn't it beautiful?" Adam gestures at the walls around him. "Your brother will be proud to have a room painted by his family, don't you think?"_

_Sana laughs. "Dad, I haven't even finished the wall!" Her mother comes in, leaning on the doorframe. Her belly has a small bump._

_"Looking good." Adam stands and makes his way over, hugging Rowan. Sana smiles, then stretches. Her hand hits a paint tin suspended on a ladder, spilling all the paint over her. Her parents look around and start laughing. Sana wipes paint from her eyes._

_Her mother points at Sana. "When did I ever give birth to a Smurf?" Hearing that, Adam and Rowan begin to laugh in earnest. Soon, Sana joins them, and the three of them laugh together, the painting forgotten._

Sana looked at the wall. It wasn't unfinished now. It was beautiful, and it looked just like what mum had said it would look like when she showed her daughter the sample she had made in preparation for repainting the kitchen. The green undertones of the blue paint were brought out by the white-ish yellow under it, but without swamping the bright translucent blue. _It really does look like ocean waters now,_ thought Sana. She looked down at her hands sadly, the pale skin covered with splotches of yellow and blue. She wasn't covered in paint now. Looking around the room, she saw Juliet climb down her ladder and stretch too. Three walls have been painted, and Artemis… Sana twirled around to look at Artemis and his wall. The wall was now yellow, which was a good sign, but where was Artemis? She turned around and looked quizzically at Juliet, who, like Sana, had turned around to look at Artemis. Juliet stared hard, then suddenly giggled and pointed back to the wall. Following Juliet's pointing finger, brown hair flying, Sana saw a bit of the wall move and then detach itself, walking towards a tin of blue paint. Sudden understanding flooded her brain. She began to grin. Juliet was on the floor, rolling around with laughter

"What happened?" The sound came out as laughter, giving Artemis a hard time comprehending what Juliet just said.

Artemis looked at the ground, burning with mortification. Imagine this incident getting out into Father's empire! "I was painting when the ladder slipped out from under me. I fell to the ground, then, as the ladder steadied itself, the paint tin slipped from the ladder and landed onto me. I was just getting up, so it hit me on the side and the paint fell out and splashed over me." Looking back up again, he saw Juliet sitting up, wiping tears from her eyes. Sana was standing next to her, and she was smiling. Smiling!

"Sana, you're smiling." Sana looked up, startled, then reached one hand up to trace the curve that adorned her lips. It had felt natural a moment ago, but now that Artemis had mentioned it, it felt unnatural. Her smile disappeared, and she looked at Artemis closely, studying the extent of the damage he had done to himself.

Sana walked over to the mess in the middle of the room, searching for something. Triumphantly she pulled out her whiteboard, and began to write hurriedly on it, walking over to Artemis to show him her words. _Actually, I think Butler will have finished preparing lunch by now, so if you want to clean yourself up, feel free to use my bathroom. There won't be time for a shower, so wash as much paint off as possible, then wet one of the towels, wipe the rest of the paint off and then use a dry towel to pick the rest up. The bits of dried paint might be peelable, but if it's not peeling, wet it and wipe it. I think that'll work. If not, I'll tell Butler that a slight crisis has come up, and that you'll be eating lunch in your room. Yeah?_ Artemis was already in the bathroom, rinsing his arms.

Juliet asked, "How do you know so much about these things? You're ten years old!! No offence, but most kids haven't even seen a paint roller, let alone paint an entire room."

Sana began to scribble furiously. _My dad taught me how when we painted my brother's room a few months ago. So I learnt how to paint as well as how to get paint off fast because the same thing happened to me._ Sana felt tears well up in her eyes, and widened her eyes, refusing to let the tear slide out of her eye.

"Oh… Your parents really let you try new things, huh."

Sana nodded. Artemis emerged from the bathroom, wet, but quite clean, in regards to his skin. His clothes were, unfortunately, permanently yellow. Artemis groaned. Now he needed to go clothes shopping _again_!

Sana heard the groan and smiled, interpreting the groan correctly. _Arty, _she wrote, _at least you're wearing long pants, or you would've had to wash your legs as well. The most important thing is that you're clean. Your clothes can wait. And you can wash paint out of clothes, you know. So you don't need to go clothes shopping._ Artemis walked out of the room, disturbed that Sana knew what he was thinking without him saying a word, but elated that she had smiled twice in the last ten minutes.

After lunch, after watching Artemis avoid Butler's probing questions on his appearance and after painting the remaining wall with blue, the sheet got removed, the carpet had a strip the width of a glass brick removed. The glass bricks Artemis had heard Sana order were built into a wall a metre from the front of the wardrobe, rather like a straight, glass brick version of a Japanese style silk screen. This time, Artemis was in charge of stirring the concrete used to join the bricks so that the concrete didn't set. Sana and Juliet were in charge of actually making the concrete and building the wall. Artemis believed that they didn't really trust him anymore. Not that he minded stirring the concrete; it meant that he could use that time to think about the mysteries of the universe. Like the newly discovered element, Artemisanium. His element never ceased to cheer him up. Any time he felt discouraged, by thinking about Artemisanium, Artemis would feel heartened and cheerful. For example, when he was in the middle of formulating an especially difficult mathematical theorem, or when he was trying to disprove E=mc2, or when he was stirring concrete with arms that got heavier every second. Finally, finally, the moment came when his services to the concrete were not needed anymore. Looking up, he beheld a magnificent glass wall that reached over two metres in height and extended more than three metres lengthwise.

Sana stood, admiring the wall. _It's beautiful. Thanks Jul, for helping me. Do you mind helping me move the furniture back in?_ She placed her whiteboard in front of Juliet.

"Sure. I don't mind. I mean, I haven't got anything else to do except look after Artemis' mother, and she hasn't needed me so far, so I'll stay."

Sana smiled and wiped her board clean. She sat in front of Artemis, writing, _Thanks! Artemis, thanks for your help. I really appreciated it._ Artemis thought that every thing Sana said seemed to be said from a long distance away, as if she was saying it from within an echoing tunnel. It was to be expected that he felt a little out of it. The fact that Artemis had been stirring concrete for three hours needed to be put into consideration. He nodded dreamily, and then got up slowly and slowly walked back to the study, where he found the Bunsen burner still burning from hours ago, and Artemisanium waiting for him to examine it after being abandoned hours ago. The loud chiming of the grandfather clock in the hallway downstairs jerked him back into this world. Checking his clock, Artemis saw the clock hand turn to seven. _What? I couldn't have spent nine hours helping Sana! Painting walls and putting floorboards down and stirring concrete can't have been nine hours! _

As Sana and Juliet set down the last piece of furniture, Sana grinned and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She flashed Juliet a thumbs up, which was returned, and then lied down on the floor, looking up at the white ceiling. Juliet joined her without speaking, the two of them enjoying the companionable silence.

Sana sat up and began to write, the marker squeaking loudly. _Juliet, even though I've been living here for two weeks now, I still don't really feel like a Fowl. I've felt like I always have, a family friend of the Fowls. I still think Adam McEwan is my dad, and Rowan McEwan as my mum. I've been accepted as a Fowl, I've accepted the Fowls as my family, I live with the Fowls, I've made this room my room, but I still think that my dad will come anytime to pick me up back to my home, and that my mum will have dinner waiting for us to eat together, then later, we'll all play a game, and I'll kiss them goodnight, and when she thinks I'm asleep, my mum will come in and tuck me in, singing a song she's sung for ever. What should I do? Should I forget about my old life? Should I remember them, when every time I think about them, I still see them alive until I remember that they're dead and then it feels like I'm falling into an abyss that never ends and it feels like there's a hole in my heart that nothing could possibly fill and I don't know what to do. _Sana rolled over and grabbed Juliet's arm. The older girl could see the anguish in the younger one's eyes. She rolled on to her side and propped herself up with her elbow.

"Sana, you're supposed to feel like that. I felt like that when my parents died. I know Butler did, even though you couldn't see it from his actions. It's a part of life to feel like what you're feeling now, but it'll pass with time. As people say, time heals everything. You've got to give it time. To the Fowl thing, you've got to do the same thing. No one expects you to be a Fowl overnight. Just let it be for a while, and then, after a while, you'll see yourself remembering more events and little mannerisms of this family more clearly and in more quantities, you'll remember funny or weird or sad or happy memories that you've had in this family, and then, when you find yourself imagining your mum as Angeline and your dad as Artemis Snr and your brother as Artemis Jnr, then you've become a Fowl. You don't need to forget you're parents. Put them in a special place in your heart. You're keeping their name, so you'll be acknowledging them every time your last name is said, and through you, and this family and their friends, you're parents will be remembered. So don't worry about it. Let yourself make some memories with the Fowls, and you'll soon feel like a Fowl."

Sana hugged Juliet, conveying her thanks in the movement. Juliet hugged her back. Disentangling herself from Sana's embrace, she reached over and patted Sana's head. "Hey, I think I smell Dom's cooking. Race you to the dining room!" she said, leaping up and dashing off, calling over her shoulder, "Whoever's last is a rotten egg!"

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**It's a lame ending to a chapter, I know. And I will punish myself for it.**


	5. The End of an Era

**This chapter is dedicated to chaos0marine, who kicked my butt and got me writing.**

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Today is _Lá Fhéile Pádraig_, or St. Patrick's Day. Hence, because of that absolutely _ridiculous_ tradition of wearing green on St. Patrick's Day, I am wearing green, on Sana's extremely persistent suggestion. Moreover, Sana insisted on a bright shade, so I have become the human version of that absurd frog in 'The Muppets'. If anyone, outside my immediate family circle, should ever see me in this preposterous outfit, my reputation as heir to the Fowl Empire will be ruined! I am quite pleased that Juliet left early this morning to go watch a St. Patrick's Day celebratory wrestling competition. I _shudder_ to think what she would say or do if she saw me…

Now that I think about it, why do I always do what Sana tells me to do? I got dragged to participate in her redecorating retail therapy session three days ago, I got forced to help repaint her walls, remove carpet and stir concrete. Because of my help, albeit unwillingly, I was inflicted with cramps down my right leg due to overuse, my arms still feel painful if I lift them to a height higher than my shoulder, my clothes were dyed _yellow_, AND I lost a day's worth investigating Artemisium (which I have determined that it should be placed between nitrogen and oxygen on the periodic table, becoming the new No. 8). Why can I not refuse her? From what I can remember, I have never refused her. Why is that? She is younger than me, albeit only six months younger, so she should be the one obeying my every wish, but that has never happened. At times, it can be quite mortifying. I have studied the human mind extensively for the past few years, but my subjects have always been other consciousnesses, never my own mentality. Maybe, instead of inspecting other minds, I should examine my own first…

School will resume again tomorrow. I will be trapped, once again, with a bunch of imbeciles who can't tell their _droite_ from their _gauche_. I will, once again, be subject to learning stuff that I learnt two years ago. The only consolation for me will be to experiment with the chaos theory again. One thing I have learnt at school is that teachers are wonderful subjects to test that theory on. They are so stressful that subjecting them to the chaos theory may help them reduce their stress levels. I shouldn't complain, however. The Fowls have always attended primary school at St. Barnaby's School for Young Boys, secondary school at St. Bartleby's School for Young Gentlemen, and tertiary courses at Oxford or Cambridge. However, even though the McEwan family have an empire, second in size only to the Fowl empire, in areas such as architecture, art and the performing arts, they have always encouraged children in their family to interact with the public. Which means that, compared to Sana in her public school, I am the one to be envied. Not that there's much to envy in a school full of eejits.

I wonder how Sana would react when she has a chance meeting with one of her relatives. I know, from what I have gleaned over the years from Mother's hints, that Adam was estranged from the rest of the family when he married a lawyer. Do they ignore each other? Or do they treat each other civilly? I am quite curious as to how people interact with one another. Perhaps I should study this as my next project after Artemisium instead of examining my mind. After all, I hardly need to examine my _own_ thinking, since the cure is to simply say no.

Artemisium is, so far, my greatest project yet. I highly doubt that any other ten year olds in the world, let alone Ireland, can discover a previously unknown element. I expect to win the next Nobel Chemistry prize for it. However, I plan to exceed my achievements soon, as a genius such as I could never be satisfied intellectually for extended amounts of time. Mother, though, she does not understand this challenge. She is forever urging me to spend my time 'like a kid'. She does not understand that I am not just a 'kid'. I am a genius. An intellectual who needs mental stimulus, not physical activity. The physical activity is undertaken by one such as Butler, who is renowned for his ability to move swiftly and strongly. My capabilities lie elsewhere. Mother needs to understand this.

Father is leaving today for a business venture into Russia, importing Coca Cola into the market. This transaction is completely legitimate, and he and Major are to accompany the cargo ship, completely 'green', obviously, into the country. As Father has invested a lot of money into this venture, I presume that he finds it with much potential for increasing our family fortune. Because of this, I have decided to learn Russian, so I can go there in the future to handle the situation, when I have become head of the Fowl empire. Father predicted that this business opportunity will only take him a few weeks to finalise and settle, which limits the time in which Fowl family enemies can revenge themselves or if the Mafiya want to abduct him. In that area, they will have an even lesser chance of succeeding as Major, one of the world's best martial artist, will be accompanying and protecting him. What could possibly go wrong?

**

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**

Fowl Manor, Dublin, Ireland

"Goodbye, Angeline."

Artemis Fowl Snr held his wife perfunctorily. His eyes were unfocused, his consciousness calculating the risks and ways to prevent those risks. He disengaged himself from Angeline, trying to understand why she was clinging onto him so tightly, but his mind was too preoccupied by the Russian project. Artemis moved on to the next person in line. Sana. She knew his son better than he did.

"Goodbye, Sana. Look after Artemis for me." She nodded.

Now for his son. Artemis shook Artemis Jnr by the hand. "Look after your mother for me."

With that, Artemis drove off with Major, down the driveway, through the gates, little knowing that one of them would not be coming home again.

**

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**

Wicklow Primary School

Sana approached her school gates, riding hard on her bike. The school was quite far from where she lived, and living with the Fowls didn't really change the time needed except for the three minutes needed to get out of the main gates. She swept wildly into the gates, just in time to hear the bell ring for the start of school. Yes! She had made it in time! It wouldn't be good to start school late, would it? She locked her bike and hurriedly ran into her classroom, barging through the door just in time to hear her teacher say,

"Everybody, settle down. Get out your maths book, we'll be starting revising long division today." Seeing Sana, she smiled and said quietly, "Welcome Sana, I'm sorry about your parents. I'll try to keep it quiet among your peers. I'm glad you're not late, but could you please try not to break the door?"

**

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**

St. Barnaby's School for Young Boys

Artemis the Second sighed and exited the Bentley. His father had driven off in the Ferrari yesterday, but he preferred the more spacious and inconspicuous Bentley. Artemis looked resignedly at the 'St. Barnaby's School for Young Boys' school plaque at the gates, then slowly walked up the stairs and into the school, in time to witness a brawl developing between two boys over some score in football. _At least primary school isn't boarding school. For one point five more years, I will be able to cultivate my intellect at home, but after that, it will become imbecileland except for holidays and weekends_

**

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**

Bay of Kola, Murmansk, Russia

Artemis Fowl Snr stood portside, on the deck, staring over the approaching land. He thought of all the work that he had put in to get to this stage. His criminal empire was already far-reaching, so if he had a few legitimate business transactions to fund those activities, then Artemis wouldn't have to worry about funding from his son's inheritance anymore.

A speck of light, immediately snuffed out, attracted his attention. What was that? A minute later, a gunshot shattered the night time silence, immediately followed by the explosion of the engine. The ship began to burn. For an instant, a silhouette of a large object could be seen against the flames. Artemis Snr crashed into the freezing ocean, the impact largely absorbed by Major's large frame. As the cold set it, Major issued his master his first and last command.

"Crawl onto this piece of metal." Major hefted his boss on to the flimsy piece of debris, then sank, his body succumbing to the cold he had been bravely fighting off. Artemis wanted to shout for someone to save the man who had saved him many times, but his voice did not, _could not_, work. As he drifted off into a mind-numbing coma, Artemis whispered three syllables into the cold, unforgiving night. Angeline.

**

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**

Fowl Manor, Dublin, Ireland

Sana stretched luxuriously. Putting down her pen, she surveyed her just-finished homework. Satisfied with what she saw, she jumped over her bed with its new bedcovers, made by a maid in the house, over to the window, framed by curtains she had made herself. Sewing made her happy, reminding her of the times when Sana would sit by her mum, who would then teach her how to use a sewing machine, how to use a pattern, etc. Sana had always been interested in craft and the arts, and Rowan was delighted to have a daughter who was willing to learn everything she had to teach. She gazed out of the window, a large, perfect full moon illuminating everything outside, washing everything with a layer of pale silver.

"_Look Mum, isn't the moon pretty?" Sana tugs on her mother's sleeve, pointing up at the moon. The smell of grass blends with the soothing scent of oak sap. Leaves crunch under their feet._

_Rowan smiles down at her daughter. "Yes. It's beautiful, isn't it?"_

Sana smiled in remembrance of those peaceful walks outside under the moon. Her mother's peace always seemed to envelope her every time she saw the moon. She closed her eyes. The peace she felt infused in was today tinged with a peculiar, tingly energy that she always felt when a full moon came up. Sana opened her eyes to see a police car driving up to the Manor, dismissing all those thoughts out of her mind. She ran downstairs, where Artemis and Angeline were already standing.

Sana cocked her head questioningly at Artemis. Angeline was too tense and too worried looking to be pestered by questions.

Artemis, interpreting her look correctly, answered, "We don't know yet. The only fact they have informed us on is that it is, as you would say, bad news."

An officer knocked on the door. Butler opened the door to reveal Hilly, who greeted Sana sombrely.

She then faced Angeline. "I'm terribly sorry to be the one who always tells you these things," she croaked, "but we have just been informed of an accident about the Fowl Star, which we know as the ship your husband was on. There have been no survivors found, and the court has declared him dead." Angeline turned pale.

"Continue," ordered Angeline, her voice betraying her emotions.

"The facts we know is that they arrived into the Bay of Kola, Murmansk, but then something must have happened, because the fuel tank exploded, the ship caught on fire, and then sank after 10, 15 minutes. No survivors have been found. I'm truly, terribly sorry." Hilly turned away, shoulders bowed, and walked away. Angeline, shocked, was oblivious to everything around her, not noticing Butler leading her towards her room, not noticing Sana's concern, not noticing the sudden resolve and the growing coldness of her son. Without changing, she crawled into bed, and lay there, shocked, until a small being with long brown hair crawled into bed next to her, looking at her concernedly with luminous eyes. Drawing comfort from Sana's presence, the dam walls broke, and, holding Sana tightly, Angeline cried herself to sleep.

My father is not dead. I refuse to believe it. I am now head of the Fowls, with control and power over the assets my father had built and owned. And I will use every single one of those resources to find him. No matter what I have to sacrifice, I. Will. Find. Him.

**

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**

Hi people!

**We are now, finally, about to enter the series of adventures that are outlined in the actual books. So keep reading, keep reviewing, keep kicking me in the butt to get me writing please.**

**Thanks for giving up your time to read a few humble lines from the ravings of a mad writer.**

**Et-R**


	6. Start of Something New

Artemis sighed and massaged his temples with his fingertips. The _Fowl Star_ had been swallowed by the freezing expanse that is the Atlantic Ocean, and with it, a large investment, support from the thieves and conmen of the world, as well as the creditors who would kill to get their share of the Fowl fortune. It had been two months since the accident, and the Fowl's prospects looked grimmer than ever. He had already auctioned off the Rembrandt sketch, fetching a price of over seventy thousand euro, but that had been used to finalise the various debts caused by the sinking of the _Fowl Star_. Artemis had also used the money to pay the final payment for the mortgage. He hadn't even known there was a mortgage on the family estates. At least there would be no more trouble over the estates. Going back to the only computer in the entire mansion (although that was about to change. Artemis had just ordered twenty desktops and laptop computers from Dell), he looked over the accounts for the past two months. Computers, check. Mortgage, check. Debt to Montinelli family, check… As he added the sums up, mentally checking off every payment, he reminded himself to leave five thousand euro for the Arctic expedition. Content with the figures, he reached over to the pile of letters next to the computers. Now that all the other staff members were gone, Butler had replaced all of them. In fact, he was much better at their jobs than the professionals. And Butler was one person. Artemis sifted through the letters. One letter addressed to his mother caught his eye. Looking at the header, he recognised their bank's symbol. Feeling trepidation, he quickly sliced it open with his father's letter opener. His letter opener. Artemis unfolded the bank statement, and scanned it quick. He groaned. Angeline had wasted yet another large sum of money on her quest to save the world, believing that her husband could quickly replace that money. Artemis looked at the figure at the bottom. Five thousand euro. His mother had used the money Artemis had prepared to use to search for his father on some environmental concern. Sighing, Artemis grasped the letter and left in search of his mother.

* * *

Angeline was crying. Anyone who saw their mother crying would soften. Artemis could not afford to be soft anymore. In order to get the attention he needed, Artemis needed to be stronger. No one took a ten year old seriously, let alone a blubbering whelp. He told himself to be strong.

"Mother, what is this?" Angeline focused on her son.

"Arty, little Arty. Come and sit with me." His mother looked terrible. Her skin was pale, so very pale you could see the veins under the skin clearly. The black mascara rimmed her eyes, streaking down her face. Artemis could feel his resolve melting away.

_Be strong._

Artemis tried to jog Angeline's memory. "I want you to explain this fifty-thousand-euro cheque to a wildlife centre in South Africa." Angeline looked bewildered. Artemis, fearing for his mother's sanity, fearing that the House of Fowl would fall, fearing that his father would never come back, lost his patience with his mother.

"Mother, please. Try to think. We do not have spare funds for South African charities. All the staff have been let go except Butler and he hasn't been paid for a month."

"Lemur! I remember now. I bought a silky sifaka lemur."

Artemis rebuked his mother coldly. He felt like he was changing into another person. _What am I becoming, _he wondered, _if I can talk to my grief-stricken mother like this? _The reason came to him almost immediately. _I am a Fowl, and Fowls have always triumphed in the face of adversity._

As Artemis baited Angeline to find out where the lemur was, he wanted to scream out his frustration. _Father is missing and you have spent the expedition money on a lemur!_ His mother's delicate situation prevented him from shouting obscenities. His rage simmering, Artemis came to a conclusion. _If I cannot take back the money, I will have to earn it back._ Artemis exited the room. As he walked back to his room, Artemis decided on a plan. Animals previously thought to be extinct were extremely valuable. If he could sell the lemur, then Artemis would be able to regain the expedition money as well as a substantial profit. He reflected on the idea, and, sifting through his vast mental list of animal traders, Artemis decided to sell the lemur to a group of Extinctionists famous for the high prices they paid for rare, endangered animals. Artemis was horrified at himself. It had taken him all of three minutes to decide on a course of action so repulsive there was no name for the plan he was about to undertake. _Be strong._ No matter what it took, Artemis was going to find his father and bring him home.

* * *

Sana, spread out on her bed, stared at the ceiling and sighed. Ever since Artemis Snr had disappeared, Artemis had withdrawn from all unnecessary contact with other people, and Angeline's risk of becoming insane grew larger day after day. She sighed again, then picked herself up and began stretching. Sana slowly lowered herself into a split. Her ambition was to become a dancer, and so she had to be as supple as a snake. The sound of Artemis's door opening and closing made her sit up and take notice. Artemis had been practically living in the study for the past few months, and he had rarely stepped into his room, conducting business meetings and whatnot. Sana crept to her door, opening it slightly, and peered through the crack, to see Artemis dressed in the navy suit he wore to the Convent Garden opera, walking towards the kitchen. _Where is he going, dressed so formally?_ Spontaneously, Sana stalked Artemis until she heard Butler's voice. She quickly pressed herself against a wall, then cautiously sneaked to the kitchen doorway.

"… It will give me a chance to try out my flamethrower." _Huh? Flamethrower?_ "Are we going somewhere formal?"

"Nowhere formal," Artemis said in a voice that sent chills up Sana's spine, "Just business. I am in charge of the family affairs now, and so I should dress accordingly."

"Ah… I detect a distinct echo of your father." Sana heard cleaning sounds. "We have some typical Fowl family business to conduct, do we?"

"Yes, with a monkey's uncle." _A monkey's uncle? Had Artemis finally cracked?_ Sana hesitated, then stepped into the doorway. She wrote _I'm coming too_ on her board, and then tapped Artemis on the shoulder, showing him what she wrote.

Artemis, turning around quickly, said coldy, "No. You will be in my way. Now go and do your homework, like the good girl you are."

Sana fought hard to control the chills she felt at the new Artemis, writing, _I am coming to look after you, as your father told me to do._ Artemis's face twisted. No matter how he felt about a matter, what Artemis Snr had said was now his code for living. Still, he presented his arguments.

"I have Butler with me. He can protect me well enough. If he has to protect the both of us, then it'll mean increased danger for me."

Sana stood her ground. Artemis stood there impatiently while Sana wrote down her argument. _I am coming with you. I can protect myself, thankyou very much. I am going, and nothing can change my mind._ She felt like the only thing she could do for Artemis Snr was to try keep on the straight and narrow. Whatever the outcome was, Sana was going to do her best. Recognising the look on Sana's face, Artemis sighed. Nothing he said would be able to change her mind now.

"We leave in thirty minutes for Rathdown Park. Do not be a hindrance if you decide to come." Artemis swept past Sana on the way to visit Angeline once more before he left. Sana stood, bewildered at the turn of events. She had even thought of what she would say three turns later. Then, elated and scared at her triumph, she raced upstairs and got dressed in her most comfortable clothes. As long as she was allowed on these trips, Sana was determined to do her best to fulfil Artemis Snr's wishes.

* * *

Artemis stood before his mother's doorway. Gathering his nerve, he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Artemis entered the room. Crossing the carpet carefully as so not to step on the vines and bring bad luck, he stood next to his mother. "Mother, I am leaving for a school excursion to Stonehenge. I will see you in a few days."

Angeline looked up and met her son's eyes. "Who are you? What are you doing in my room?"

Artemis reeled back. "Mother, what's wrong? It's me, your son, Arty."

"No you're not! Do you really think I'm so stupid as to not know my son? My Arty is visiting my lemur!" Angeline's voice rose hysterically. "How did you get in here? Get away from me! My husband is an important man, you know. He will find out who you are and punish you for entering my room! Get out! GET OUT!" The last words were screamed out, the last syllable swallowed with panic-stricken sobbing. Artemis stumbled out of the room, not caring if he stepped on a vine or not, then, still in a dazed, tripped down the stairs. His mother had not recognised him. Artemis stumbled on a stair, sliding down the last couple of steps. The fall snapped him out of his daze. Artemis knew the only way to save his mother was to find his father. And by recognizing this fact, Artemis blew away the last shreds of doubt on his plan surrounding the silky sifaka lemur.

* * *

Butler entered the study silently. He had heard unknown voices in there, when there shouldn't be any voices. A vaguely familiar voice was speaking.

"Calm yourself, Captain. He stays outside. I saw it with my own eyes."

Butler spoke up. "Saw what with your own eyes?" The taller of the two spun around. The dim lighting made it hard to discern their features. The smaller one had on a silver wig and Butler could recognise the clothes they wore. How did two children get into the Fowl Manor in their underwear? "You two kids have been helping yourselves to the Fowl wardrobe I see. Now are you going to cause a fuss or are you going to come quietly? Let me give you a hint, the correct answer is _come quietly_."

The smaller one, with the star-ship trooper hair, spoke up in compelling tones. "Stand down, human." Butler felt woozy, which triggered his alarm. These kids were controlling him!

"What? How did you…" Butler stumbled backwards, bashing his shoulder on the arch behind him. The pain woke him up, to some extent.

"Sleep, Butler." How did they get his name? They were smarter than they looked. He had to neutralize them before they could harm Master Artemis or Mrs. Fowl. Butler reached for the tranquilizer pistol, hesitating slightly before laying his hand on it. After all, children could be dangerous. Example: Artemis Fowl. The star-ship trooper came out of the shadows. She had different coloured eyes. One blue, one tawny. The blue was vaguely familiar. Butler registered her voice again.

"Sleep, Butler. Aren't your eyelids heavy? Sleep." They were hypnotizing him! Butler dragged the pistol out slowly, his hands feeling stiff and soft.

"You sleep." Butler shot the girl. Before succumbing to the anaesthetic, she moaned.

"Not again." _Again? He had never seen these people before._ As she fell, Butler's head cleared. _The little girl is the professional of the two. _Eyeing the boy, Butler thought, _I wonder what this scruffy individual contributes to the partnership._

The boy spoke. His voice sounded vaguely familiar. "Listen, Butler, I have something to tell you…" Butler did not waste any time. The thirty minutes were almost up, and Master Artemis did not like to be kept waiting.

"No, no, no. No more talking from either of you." Butler briskly pulled the trigger. The boy pulled out the dart. His face was shocked.

"Butler! You shot me." The boy fell to his knees, and then collapsed beside his companion. Butler reached over to sling the two children over his shoulders. _Why was he so shocked? He looked sure that I would not dare to shoot him. And the only people I don't shoot no matter what are the Fowls and Juliet._ Puzzling over this new thought, Butler walked out to the Bentley to where Artemis and Sana was waiting. Artemis looked faintly surprised at the extra luggage Butler was carrying.

"Who are they?"

Butler grunted and opened the boot, hoisting the two intruders into the boot. "I don't know."

"I am intrigued. Something extraordinary has happened here." Artemis studied the two closely.

Butler checked the boy's pulse. Still thumping away strongly. He bent over to check on the girl's pulse. "Hardly extraordinary. Two thieves somehow broke into the manor."

"They bypassed all the security. Not so much as a blip on the motion sensors?"

"Nothing. I just happened on them during a routine sweep. Hiding in the shadows, wearing cast-offs from the wardrobe."

As Artemis and Butler continued to discuss the intruders, Sana gazed at the boy. He reminded her strongly of Artemis, only older. Artemis after puberty, perhaps. Her attention switched to the girl, as Artemis said something about adult proportions and foreheads. The girl reminded Sana of someone she had seen in passing, out of a window when her mother went out for night-time walks. Sometimes she saw Rowan talking to someone who looked a bit like this girl… but that couldn't be possible, right? This girl wasn't human, and Rowan was definitely 100% human.

Her reverie got interrupted by Butler slamming the boot. Artemis was talking in his cold, cold voice again.

"It's a lemur, Butler. An I am away that you believe this operation is beneath us, but my father's life is at stake."_ A lemur, again?_ Sana tuned back into the conversation. "… and after we have done the deal with the Extinctionists, then I can decide what to do with our two guests…" _Extinctionists? No way. Artemis would NEVER sell an endangered animal to the Extinctionists! Would he?_ Then Sana remembered the lemur. _Oh my God. What has Artemis become?_ The conversation ended, and Sana slid into the rear seat after Artemis, shocked to the core. _How can I protect him when he's doing the destroying himself? _

**

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**

And so we finally enter the first adventure of little Arty&Co.

**Just to make sure, there will be no 'big Artemis' p.o.v.s in this adventure, as it hasn't happened yet.**


	7. Start Operation:Lemur

**People, I am EXTREMELY sorry about the delay for publishing this chapter. So please enjoy!**

**For people who thought Artemis is a bit of a softie, he kinda is until his dad disappears and his mum goes a bit cuckoo... but rest assured, from now on, he's going to be the Artemis we all know and love. .**

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A blood-red moon shone crimson as it emerged over the horizon, casting everything into an eerie glow, foreboding the evil that was about to occur. The red soon vanished, the moon returning to its usual pale silver, but the sight of it burned itself into Sana's memory, chilling her to the very core, instead of calming her down. The Bentley cruised through the moonlit meadows of Ireland, renowned for their beautiful vistas and magical aura. However, Sana did not see or appreciate any of these famous landscapes.

_Artemis, you're selling an innocent animal to a bunch of Extinctionists. What the hell are you doing? It's evil, Artemis, evil!_, she wrote angrily. She waved it in front of his face.

Artemis looked up from observing the occupants in the boot glassy eyed. _He's thinking about something else. Again. Why can't he just listen for once without tuning out?_

_Earth to Artemis. READ!!!!!_

Artemis shook his head, clearing all thoughts from his mind. "Sana, what do you want?"

_Read what I wrote, dammit!_ Sana waited as Artemis read over what she wrote.

He sighed. "It's for the money. We need the money to pay off the rest of our debts, including our mortgage, as well as for funding the Arctic expedition to find Father."

She cleared the board, and then covered it with another line of writing. _Can't you get the money from somewhere else? You're selling an innocent life! That's so…_

She thought it so evil that she couldn't think of a word to describe it. Artemis felt his resolve crack. _Be strong._ Artemis took a deep breath.

"If we sell this lemur, then the money Mother had wasted on buying it in the first place will be regained, and the money I had reserved for Father would be available again. Secondly, Father had invested a lot of money into this venture, along with many other wealthy people who want their money back. To repay them, I had to borrow money, which I paid off with the profits from the Rembrandt sketch, but to get our money back, I need to sell this lemur. Thirdly, I don't know what Mother will do next, so just in case she suddenly buys or spends money on, I will need to keep a sum for her to draw on. This will pay for that reserve. Finally, in order to keep the Fowls in control of our empire, I need resources. Usually I would build that up over time as well as what Father would leave to me, but I don't have that advantage. I need the money now to gain the upper hand, and also to start building those resources. OK, Sana?"

Throughout his whole speech, Sana had not looked away once. Now she turned away, her face like a mask, folding herself up into the smallest possible position as far from Artemis as possible. Staring at her back, Artemis felt a pang in his heart at her rejection and hate, but he locked that away too. _I vowed that I would do anything to get Father back, no matter what. Even if Sana ends up hating me, I can't and won't stop this mission. Not now, not ever._ Artemis did not notice the single tear that trickled down Sana's cheek.

Artemis exited the car, strolling down the drive as casually as if he was walking down a corridor back at the Manor. Behind him, Butler locked the car. Sana walked rigidly beside Artemis, her face composed and still. They entered Rathdown Park, Artemis turning off the security with the director's key card cloned on an earlier visit that day.

Striding down the institute's pathways, following Butler blindly, Artemis checked his mobile phone. It could receive a live video feed from a button camera he had popped into the air-con duct earlier, and their guests were wakening. _The female is _fascinating_. She isn't human, that's for sure. I wonder how she will react when she becomes alert... She's obviously lighter, but she stirs first. Did she take a drug to combat anaesthetic? Or is it something else? The boy pales with insignificance next to her. But then many of his features look like Fowl features. Maybe he's a distant relation trying to get something out of Father's disappearance._ A random light made Artemis look up. They were passing through an aquarium filled with rare and endangered animals in water mimicking their natural habitats. _Amazing really, what humans are capable of. A group will save these animals, when another will do anything to kill them off. Just like the Extinctionists. One hundred thousand euro for a lemur._

"Focus, Artemis. One dastardly crime at a time," Butler reproached Artemis.

"Dastardly, Butler?" Artemis said, looking up from his phone. "_Dastardly_? Honestly, we are not cartoon characters. I do not have a villainous laugh or an eyepatch."

"Not yet. Though you'll have an eyepatch soon enough if you don't concentrate on the job at hand."

_Anyway, Artemis, you don't need a __villainous laugh__ or an __eyepatch__ to do evil._ Sana wrote quickly. Her scorn was palpable.

"Sana, if you don't like what we're doing, then go back to Fowl Manor. I don't need distractions right now."

_If I didn't come, who else would try prevent you from doing __dastardly acts__ like murder? _Artemis didn't even wait for her to finish writing her reply. She cleaned her board and walked slowly behind Artemis and Butler. Where was the Artemis who had taught her how to read? Where was the Artemis who helped her paint her room? That Artemis wouldn't murder an innocent animal. Wrapped up in her thoughts, Sana ran into Artemis, who had suddenly stopped walking.

_Sorry._ No response. Sana peered into Artemis' face. He was in shock.

_Artemis, what's wrong?_ She waved the question in front of his face, breaking his reverie.

Artemis looked up from his phone. "Our guests have just escaped the boot with another non-human! They may potentially be more lucrative than our lemur." Artemis maximised the volume of his handset. They both heard the word _lemur_ mentioned more than once. Sana saw Artemis' realisation.

_Artemis, don't! Do something else to get the money! Give the lemur to them!_ She scribbled, so quickly that her writing was nearly intelligible.

"No."

Sana was aghast. _What do you mean, no?!_ Sana put the question in front of him where he had to read it.

_What have you become, my brother?_

Artemis did not bother answering her question. _Perhaps this lemur is more valuable than I realized. The animal is the bait that lures these creatures in._

Artemis began walking again. Sana ran ahead to walk beside Butler instead. They walked together in quiet companionship, the anger about Artemis dissipating in Sana. They both shared the same views on the lemur hunt. Behind them, Artemis lagged behind, absorbed in what he was seeing and hearing. A rather hairy behind was perched on the side of the boot, quiet talk humming in the background. Occasionally the camera would pick up on a word, but they made absolutely no sense to Artemis at all. Soon, the female creature reappeared, only to promptly disappear. _Invisibility? The energy involved in creating a reflective field, or to generate high-seed vibration, must be incredible._ Artemis activated the digital thermal imager, and the female creature's form quickly appeared on his screen. Artemis smiled thinly. These abilities would be valuable indeed.

"Butler, old friend. Slight change of plan." In front of him, Butler glanced back at his young charge.

"We're still on the trail of a little creature, though, I'll bet."

"Creatures. Plural." Butler and Sana shivered simultaneously.

The small party arrived at the camouflaged hide in front of the cages. Behind them, at various points of their journey, night guards snored on the pathway, courtesy of Butler's darts. Artemis opened the hide with the key card, and immediately got shoved in by Butler. Sana was already in there.

"Butler, what's…" In front of him, two more guards slumped to the ground. Butler bent over, scooped the guards on to his shoulder, and deposited them at the rear of the hide.

"Guards," Butler said, a tad unnecessarily. He closed the door behind him. "What do we do now?"

Artemis frowned. "We observe the lemur, then approach its cage. When it sees us, I will entice it with a concoction of mine. If it needs reassurance, purr."

"Purr?"

"Yes, Butler. Purr. Purring has been proven to comfort lemurs." Behind him, Sana snorted derisively. Artemis whirled around. "Sana, I will need your co-operation. Otherwise, if our plan fails, I will sell everything in this park to the Extinctionists."

Sana turned pale. _Why don't you do that in the first place?_ She wrote unsteadily.

"Do you really think of me like that?" Artemis said, incredulous. Even if he had hardened, he hadn't changed that much, right? Sana had began to write an answer when Butler shushed them up.

"Look."

The two children looked through the slot windows of the hide. Sana's mouth dropped open. Artemis would never do something so undignified as to drop his mouth open, but he came close to it. Very close.

The cages were interlocking blocks, so the lemur had been, an instant ago, above the next cage but also still inside its own cage. As the occupants inside the hide watched, a small explosion caused a mound of earth in a gorilla's cage (which was, incidentally, the cage next to the lemur) erupted, a small creature shooting out of the resulting hole to pinball off the ceiling of the cage, crashing to the ground unconscious. The gorilla, sleeping quietly in a corner, stirred, its head moving up towards the sound. Suddenly, a white hand appeared and gripped the side of the tunnel. Slowly, the pale raven-haired male emerged awkwardly from the hole.

The gorilla, deciding that the creatures coming out of the hole were dangerous, pounced onto the intruder. All two hundred kilograms of Ugandan mountain gorilla. The male intruder collapsed, and, seeing him prone on the floor, the gorilla began to shake the boy like a rag doll.

"Oh dear," said Butler delicately, "That must have really hurt. I better lend a hand or at least a dart."

The male was unconscious, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth across his face, while his companion seemed to be overcome by spasms of flatulence.

_Incredible, _thought Artemis, _this day is full of surprises._

Artemis looked at his phone. "I don't think a dart is necessary," he answered, "Help is already on the way."

Right on cue, the third member of the party flew across the screen in a blur of red, stopping in front of the cage. Looking up, Artemis could see silver thread trailing her path from a nearby tree to the cage door. A moment later, the door opened of its own accord. Artemis heard Sana draw in her breath. He didn't offer any explanations. He didn't need to.

The minute the red shape entered the cage, the female reappeared, silver wig disintegrating, shouting, charging, and doing whatever she could to attract the gorilla's attention. The gorilla, noticing the third threat, stopped shaking the male. The female saw this and squatted down, elbows crooked, knuckles on the earth, arching her spine forward. She started hooting.

_Artemis? Is she trying to talk to the gorilla?_ Sana asked, her hands just scrawling down the words, her eyes never leaving the scene.

Artemis glanced at the whiteboard, reading it quickly, then nodded curtly. So this was another gift of theirs, being Dr. Doolittle. He had no idea what the hoots meant, but he could guess that the female was trying to scare the gorilla away. Probably by saying 'Danger'. The gorilla, seeming confused, dropped the male and started beating its chest. Standard power show. It was trying to control the female! She suddenly darted forward. The gorilla followed her progress; she stopped suddenly in front of the gorilla and hooted more urgently. This time, the hooting worked. Artemis could see the dumb fear in the animal's eyes, and immediately after, the gorilla turned backwards and lumbered to the back of its cage, less gracefully than usual. Soon, fearful gibbering could be heard from the upper canopy.

Artemis, seeing the female rush to her companion's side, turned and went over to the door, Butler following suit. Sana, noticing them leaving, hurried to their side. They slipped out of the hide and slinked across the small courtyard to the lemur's cage beside the gorilla's cage.

"_Troglodytes gorilla_," Artemis commented. "Given the name by Doctor Thomas S. Savage, an American missionary to western Africa, who first scientifically described the gorilla in 1847."

Butler seemed less than pleased to learn this trivia. "You don't say," he muttered. Sana could tell his attention was elsewhere. Like, for example, the reach of the gorilla's arms.

Artemis, swiping the cage's key-card lock, kept his eyes on the activities in the next cage. He pushed open the gate door.

"Look at those two," he said scornfully. "Wasting time. You wouldn't catch me doing that."

Butler snorted. "Most people never catch you doing anything, Artemis," Butler said, deadpan.

Artemis chuckled. This was a most interesting day, and the challenges these intruders presented were very enjoyable. He looked up at the lemur, perched high in a Madagascar palm.

"And there we are," Artemis said quietly. "The last silky sifaka lemur in the world. The hundred-thousand-euro primate." The lemur looked at its guests curiously, its snow white coat contrasting with a brown patch on its chest.

Artemis pointed to the patch. "That colouring results from chest scent marking with the sternal-gular gland."

"Uh-huh." Butler said, caring about this information as much as he would an ant on a footpath. "Let's just get the animal and get out of here before our friends next door regroup."

"I think we have a moment or two," said Artemis.

Butler studied the strangers carefully, memorising every detail of their appearance in moments. Sana stared hard at Artemis, then at the male. Slowly, a suspicion formed in her mind.

_I swear that boy is a grown-up version of Artemis. How they got here, I have no idea, but for them to time-travel to this time, get abducted and locked up in a boot, sneak into a zoo and then get beaten up by a gorilla, this lemur must be seriously important to something or other in their time. Somehow, I need to talk to them without Artemis or Butler noticing…_

Artemis felt her scrutiny. "What is it, Sana? Do you know them?"

Sana took out her marker. _No. I've never seen them, ever._


	8. A lemur, a pylon and schizophrenic magic

Sana leaned against the side of the door as Artemis took out the dangerous looking gel from his pocket. In the night-time gloom, the amber gel looked even more toxic. It seemed to exude a faint glow.

"... the Indriidae family of primates, which, as you know, is a strictly vegetarian family," lectured Artemis.

Butler replied, "Who wouldn't know that?" He still held his dart pistol. Sana silently added, _Who the hell cares about the diet of the lemur when you're about to kidnap the poor thing and sell it?_

Artemis did not notice Sana's disapproval. Or, more realistically, Artemis noticed Sana's disapproval but ignored it. He continued his mini lecture. Sana sighed. She wished her parents were here. They would know what to do and how to dissuade Artemis from his plans. Then she remembered their deaths two months ago, and her heart twisted in pain. She would never get used to the fact that they were dead, and every time she thought about it, her feelings were the same as when she first heard about it one spring night.

Artemis was still speaking. "Sap concentrate, with a potpourri of African vegetation. No lemur could resist it. But if this particular primate's brain is stronger than his stomach, fire away. One shot, if you please…"

Sana tuned out. She was starting to regret coming on this trip. Even though, by coming, she could see what Artemis was doing and not be in the dark, Sana did not want to help them at all. In fact, she was seriously considering contacting the other, older Artemis and helping them instead. Actually, she was surprised that Butler and Artemis did not recognise the other Artemis, but that is just one of the major failings of the male population. Unobservant.

The lemur crept closer the gel, eventually laying a delicate paw on Artemis' wrist. Sana held her breath. Was the lemur going to sense the danger in time?

Suddenly, a wave of pure terror blasted through the compound. Shaking with terror, Sana turned towards the source of the sound. The girl from the cage next door was making the most fantastical sound ever. A sound of pure fear and pain. Butler said something, but Sana did not register it. Artemis gave an order. The girl collapsed, her orchestra squealing to a stop. Even though the unnatural choir had stopped, Sana continued shaking with fear. She could not control the overwhelming flood of dread sweeping through her body. Sana stood there, rooted to the spot, until a clump of soil hit Sana in the head, its force projecting it through the bars of the cage. She blinked, then shook her head and looked around. She spotted two figures, one big but graceful, one small but awkward, climbing up a ladder along a Rathdown pylons. She began to run. _What? What just happened? All I remember is fear. And then they're there, up the ladder, and I'm here, still next to the cage. Oh man, I wish I could fly to where they are. It'll take me so much less time…_

Too focused on reaching Artemis before he did anything drastic, like shooting the poor lemur, Sana did not notice a faint blue glow coating her skin and clothes lifting her several centimetres above the ground. _Hey, I'm not getting tired. Maybe running around the Fowl estates every morning has improved my stamina and speed. Think about that later, Sana. Get to Arty. _

Sana ran, blue sparkles trailing after her.

Butler flanked Artemis on the small platform. They could not advance any further, Artemis's teeth grinding with frustration. Even a Fowl could not extend the service ladder to reach the lemur, who was scampering nimbly on the wire, looking back every now and then at the couple on the platform. Out of the corner of his eye, Butler noticed a faint blue thing approaching the pylon.

"Artemis, there's something blue coming our way."

Artemis looked towards the ground. "Where?"

"Down near the –. Never mind." The blue glow had disappeared, and Butler, deciding that it was not a threat, promptly forgot about it. However, Butler's observations led to Artemis's own.

"Butler, if you were left in a gorilla's cage with two incapacitated companions, would you be able to run towards your original target safely?"

"No, Artemis. I would probably be battling the gorilla."

"Then who, or what, is that?" A pale, slender finger pointed towards the ground. Butler looked in that direction, rubbed his eyes, and looked again.

"Artemis, I think that's the boy from before."

"Hmm… This lemur's value is rising steadily. If that boy can escape an angry gorilla with two useless companions unharmed…" Artemis's voice trailed off, calculating the profit he would gain if he could capture the boy and his cohorts.

Faint sounds travelled up the ladder. Immediately, Butler grabbed Artemis into a bear hug, shielding Artemis from the ladder with his own body.

A muffled voice emerged from the depths of Butler's suit. "Butler, what is it? What's happening?" Butler did not answer, concentrating on the top rung of the ladder. Soon, a small graceful figure climbed onto the platform, brown hair swinging. The figure walked out into the moonlight and Butler relaxed, seeing Sana's familiar features and not some diminutive assassin's face. He let go of Artemis, whose eyes immediately began to search for the boy.

A metallic scrape made all three look up at the wire. Ten metres from the pylon opposite them, a small metallic platform moved laboriously towards them. The lemur turned and looked at the person on the platform.

Artemis spoke. Even though he spoke without raising his voice, it travelled far, reaching the platform easily. "I advise you to stay where you are, young man. If that suit has the tiniest rip, then one slip and those cables will liquefy your skin and melt your bones." Both Butler and Sana heard the patronizing tone Artemis had adopted. Sana winced. The older Artemis would not take to being patronized well. "It would take less than a second for you to die. But that's quite long enough to be in mortal agony, don't you think? And all for nothing, as the lemur will obviously return for this treat."

Artemis opened the bag with the gel. The tantalizing smell wove through the air, reaching the lemur for the second time that night. The lemur's nose twitched. It turned its head. All three looked in amazement. _It had turned towards the person on the platform._ Sana concentrated. She could hear a faint purring sound wafting towards them.

Evidently, Artemis heard it too. "Listen, Butler." Artemis mocked, "There's a cat on the wire. A big tom, I would say. Perhaps you should throw him a fish." Despite the lightness of his tone, Sana could feel the tension in Artemis's body. Butler looked down at his charge, sensing his anxiety.

The lemur took a few hesitant steps towards the platform.

Artemis closed his eyes, breathing deeply through his nose the way Butler had taught him. Sana watched, enthralled, as the lemur scampered onto the older Artemis's shoulder and sat there as he slowly moved back towards the service pylon. She smiled, relieved that the lemur was now in good hands. Butler looked on in trepidation, not knowing what Artemis wanted to do next. All he knew was that, knowing Artemis, it would be something drastic.

"Shoot the animal." Icicles dripped from every word. Artemis met the boy's stare coolly. Sana turned and gazed at Artemis in horror, then turned back around and looked back at the other Artemis. Both Artemises focused on each other, neither of them backing away.

Butler sounded surprised. "Shoot the monkey."

"It's a…never mind. Just shoot it. The man is protected by his suit, but the lemur is an easy target."

Sana could not believe the words she was hearing. Neither could Butler. "But the fall…"

"If it falls, it dies. I will not be thwarted here, Butler, If I cannot have that lemur, then no one will have it."

Butler hesitated.

"Whenever you're ready, Butler. The target is not getting any closer." Artemis broke away from the eye contact to look at Butler. Butler sighed and took his pistol out, climbing over the rails to get a better shot.

The person on the platform spoke. "Stay back. You don't know what you're dealing with."

"Ah, he speaks. How fortunate that we can understand each other." Artemis spoke loudly, his words ringing across the countryside. "Well, understand this, stranger. I will have that silky sifaka or it will die. Make no mistake."

"You must not do this. There's too much at stake."

"I must do it. I have no choice. Now sent the animal over, or Butler will shoot."

Butler shifted uncomfortably in front of them. Sana stood, as unnoticed as a statue, looking at the older boy. Once more, the two Artemises locked gazes. Sana could see the shock in the older Artemis's eyes as he registered his younger self's determination. Slowly, he reached up and plucked the lemur, who was playing with the hood of his suit, off his head and set it back on the wire. After whispering some words, the lemur tweaked his nose and trotted back to Artemis, who grinned triumphantly as it leaped towards him. Soon, Artemis cradled the lemur in the crook of his elbow, the lemur dipping its long fingers into the sap. Butler vaulted over the rail back onto the platform in one smooth motion.

Artemis could not resist a parting speech. "Now, I think it best that you stay exactly where you are until we leave. I think fifteen minutes should be fine. After that, I advise you to be on your way and count yourself fortunate that I did not have Butler sedate you. Remember the pain that you are feeling now. The ache of utter defeat and hopelessness. And, if you ever consider crossing swords with me again, review your memory of this pain, and perhaps you will think twice."

Butler stuffed the lemur, not ungently, into a duffel bag. Artemis, checking that the lemur was secure, began the long, arduous climb back to Earth, slipping every now and then as he approached the ground. Butler followed his master down the ladder, hoisting the lemur's bag over his shoulder, steadying Artemis every time he slipped. After they left, Sana lingered at the top of the ladder, glancing back at the Artemis left stranded on the platform. His face was filled with anger and determination. One last look, and Sana leapt lightly down the ladder. Artemis and Butler, once she reached Earth, were already hurrying back towards the Bentley. Sana glanced back up at the solitary platform, silhouetted by the moon, and then ran swiftly after the pair.

_**Sana.**_

Sana spun around. All she saw was the moon shining down on an empty field. What had called to her? Was it just all in her head? She began to follow boy and master again.

_**Sana! Can you hear me?**_

_What the hell? _Sana stopped walking and looked around wildly. The people in the gorilla's cage had disappeared. All the animals, including said gorilla, were asleep. As far as she could see, there was no one near her, except for Artemis and Butler, and they were in front of her. Slowly, the horrifying truth dawned on her. _I'm imagining voices! I'm turning schizophrenic!_

_**Don't be stupid. You're not turning schizophrenic. You're perfectly sane. Now keep walking. Follow Artemis and Butler.**_

_Oh. Okay. _

Sana commenced her journey again, convinced that she was still schizophrenic. However, the voices inside her head seemed sensible, hence her following its instructions.

_**Stop thinking that you're going mental!**_

_I'm not!_

_**Liar. Anyway, so that you're convinced, I'm Holly, the girl who came with Artemis and got captured and locked up in the back of your car. I can't talk to you like this after the distance separating us gets too big, so try to dawdle as much as possible.**_

_If you're not just some random voice in my head, how can you talk to me?_

_**I'm an elf. That's a type of fairy. Fairies have magic, and so I can use my power to talk to other fairies with a fair bit of power. That's usually only elves and pixies though. Other types of fairies have n–**_

_What? That means I have powers too! What the hell? OK. I'm definitely schizophrenic. Oh my God, I'm mental!_

_**Sana! Calm down. You're half fairy!**_

_Even though both my parents are definitely human?_

_**Yes! I mean, no! Argh! I'll explain it after all this is over. Anyway, do you believe me?**_

_Not really. If you really are a fairy, give me a sign. Like, now._

An explosion next to a collapsed wall showered Sana with dirt.

_OK. I believe you. Are you guys trying to get the lemur too? You're not selling it, are you?_

_**No! We need it to save Angeline's life!**_

_You're killing it?!_

_**No! Stop jumping to conclusions! We're going to extract a bit of its brain fluid. And with the technology we have in the future, it won't hurt or kill an ant, much less a lemur.**_

_Angeline, as in Angeline Fowl?_

_**Yeah.**_

Artemis was sitting in the Bentley, windows rolled down. Sana began to walk a little faster.

_So you need the lemur to save her life?_

_**Yeah. **_

_I'll help you._

_**What about Artemis?**_

_I don't like what he's doing. Even if the money's for finding dad, I still don't like what he's doing. So I'll help you. In any way possible._

_**We next meet, according to Artemis, in a few hours. You want to talk then?**_

Sana reached the Bentley. Opening the door, she slid into the car and closed the door. The minute the door closed, Butler sped off down the road. Sana hurriedly put on her seatbelt.

_Sure. And if you don't appear, well, I'll know I'm schizophrenic then, right?_

The contact broke. A chance, finally, to do something to save Artemis from himself! Sana smiled at the joke.

Artemis noticed her smile. The first smile since Sana learnt of what he was doing.

"What are you so happy about, Sana?"

Sana shook her head, still smiling. Artemis looked at her suspiciously, but decided not to say anything. And so the Bentley sped on towards the next chapter of this adventure.

**

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After reading this chapter, could someone review it so that my number of reviews become 20? 19 is such as weird, odd number. I'd like it if it could be a nice, round number like 20. I don't care if you flame it or if you praise it or if it's constructive critism. (I would prefer it if it wasn't a flame, but seriously, just review. That's how desperate I am.) Thanks!

**Funny fact: I was still logged on to Fanfiction when my sister was reading it, and posted two reviews as a joke, of which one was 'you told me to boost your reviews'. But she didn't realise I was logged on, and so now if you go to the reviews page it looks like I posted reviews about my own story to 'boost my reviews'! XD**

**Et-R**


	9. Departing Ireland, approaching Morocco

Butler parked the Bentley and switched off the ignition. All three occupants sat there, without moving, for a few moments, until Artemis broke the silence.

"Butler, we will be flying to Morocco, where the Extinctionists are based. We'll leave in an hour."

"Yes, Artemis." With that, the young master left the car and walked into the Manor. Butler turned to look at the other occupant in the back seat.

"Sana, are you getting out?"

She looked startled. Butler realised that she had not talked or moved ever since getting into the car at the park. Such un-Sana-like behaviour. Butler was sure she was under some stress too.

She shook her head, taking out her clipboard. _No, Butler. I think I'll stay here for a while._ She turned her board around. Butler still could not get used to the fact that the originally chatty Sana had become someone who could not speak.

"Then could you lock the car after you?" Sana nodded, smiling.

Butler got out, hoisting the lemur's bag from the boot, walking briskly to the manor, running over lists of what-to-bring, trying to decide whether three hand grenades were enough to protect young Artemis from this adventure…

One hour later, Butler locked the manor behind him as Artemis walked briskly towards the hangar where the Learjet was located, carrying only a slim black leather laptop case. Sana ran after him, a yellow Pikachu backpack bouncing on her back as she tried to catch up.

When he reached the top of the stairs, Artemis looked back coolly and disdainfully at his adopted sister climbing the steps to the jet after him, and disappeared into the depths of the plane. Butler could practically see Sana's thoughts about Artemis and his "over-inflated head", even from the manor doors. Butler followed his young charges, climbed into the cockpit, and, easing the jet out of the hangar, flew the plane into the night sky, where the light from the stars and the moon reflected off the metal shell of the plane. Under Butler's careful manipulation, the jet levelled out six thousand metres above sea-level.

Leaning back into his seat, Butler sighed. He still could not believe what Artemis had become. Even though Artemis had a tendency to show off his intelligence at every opportunity possible, which would mean every single waking moment in his day, Butler had always believed that Artemis was essentially good, especially with Angeline's influence. Now, however, due to Artemis Senior's disappearance, here he was, selling an animal's life for money. Puzzling over the change in Artemis's personality, Butler guided the plane over the moonlit landscape.

As the sun rose over the horizon, reflecting off the distant Mediterranean Sea, Butler switched on the jet's intercom.

"All quiet up front, Artemis. Once we get out over the Mediterranean, I'm going to put her on autopilot for an hour and try to wind down."

Even though Butler was only an employee, and expected to follow his employer's instructions blindly faithfully, no questions asked, Butler wanted to confirm one thing about the events of the night before… "Today, Artemis, when you told me to shoot the lemur, you were bluffing? You were bluffing, weren't you?"

Artemis's cold tones cut through Butler's confusion. "It was no bluff. I will do whatever it takes." Butler shivered, not for the first time. Artemis had become someone a ten-year-old should never know, let alone become. Butler pushed the autopilot button, and took off his headset. Telling himself to wake up in forty-five minutes, he made himself as comfortable as possible for his powernap. Before drifting off to sleep, Butler decided to put his faith into Artemis and follow his instructions to the letter, thinking woozily, _Artemis, no matter what he's doing now, has some decency in him somewhere. I'll help him do whatever he wants me to do until that decency comes back again._

In due course, the Learjet approached Morocco. Butler set the plane back to manual, turned his headset on and went to have a chat with the people in the control tower at Fez Saïss.

"Fez Saïss ground, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot on west apron, information Romeo, request taxi for L-J-58 arriving from the north-west."

No response. Butler halted the jet's progress, and, with the plane hovering in mid-air in a position only highly skilled pilots can manoeuvre, tried again.

"Fez Saïss ground, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot on west apron, information Romeo, request taxi for L-J-58 arriving from the north-west."

No response again. Butler turned the Learjet around and began to fly to the nearest international airport, the Mohammed V International in Casablanca.

Switching on the intercom, Butler spoke into his microphone. "Artemis, Fez Saïss isn't open so we're now flying to Mohammed V International."

No response either. By this time, Butler felt a little bit lonely and a tiny bit rejected by all the people ignoring him. He tried talking to the people in the plane again.

"Artemis, Sana, we'll be there soon."

No-one spoke. Butler began to feel like he was the only person on the planet. Not that he had never been in these situations before. In previous operations, he had been the only person left in the field more than once, but that was different. In those circumstances, if you couldn't save yourself, then you were definitely dead. Butler knew he could save himself, and he always tried to save his comrades' lives, but many of them still died anyway. In the present circumstances, he was flying a plane six kilometres up in the air with two passengers. Even if the interaction was minimal, Butler still expected some form of interaction between the people on board. Interaction came in the form of a small girl with a Pikachu backpack, announcing her presence with a squeaky marker and a whiteboard.

_Hiya, Butler. Can I sit here?_

"Sure, Sana."

Sana grinned at him, and hopped into the seat next to him.

"Sana, don't touch anything unless I tell you to."

He waited patiently for her to stop writing. _I know that already._ _I didn't grow up around Artemis for nothing, you know. _Sana wrote witheringly, continuing hopefully, _but anyway, what do all these buttons do?_ Funny how Sana could make words take on emotions.

"They do all sorts of different things. For example, this one," Butler pointed to a relatively harmless button, "switches the lights on the plane on and off."

Sana stared fascinated at the button before realising that she had been tricked.

_Butler! Tell me something more __sub substank substins__ useful!_

Butler pointed to two buttons next to each other near Sana. "These two change the plane from automatic to manual."

As Sana gazed in rapture at the two buttons, Butler spotted the airport. Adjusting his headset, he prepared to speak. He opened his mouth…

Sana tapped him on the shoulder with her whiteboard, holding it at a comfortable reading distance from his face. _Hey Butler, do you have any more of those headphone thingies?_

Sana was twisted, leaning precariously over the gap between his seat and hers. Her hand in danger of squashing a set of buttons and her knee was in danger of kicking the joystick. Butler grabbed the board with one hand, grasped her by the elbow with the other and flipped her around so that she was facing the front once more, plonking her whiteboard on to her lap. He leaned over to a drawer-like compartment and grabbed a spare headset.

"Here you go. Don't talk or wriggle about. If you talk or move around too much, there will be dire consequences." Sana nodded gravely and put the headset on, copying Butler's example. Butler opened his mouth to speak once more.

"Mohammed V International tower, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot on west apron, information Romeo, request taxi for L-J-58 arriving from the west northwest."

This time, there was a response. "Mohammed V International tower, Cessna Three One Six Zero Foxtrot cleared to land runway one four right." With that, a click could be heard, and Butler switched off his headset. Sana, still copying, did the same.

Five minutes later, the jet landed safely on the runway. Butler parked it into a special hangar just for private planes and got up out of his seat just to be pushed back by an overexcited Sana running out of the cockpit. Butler stared after her, and the Pikachu on her back seemed to grin evilly back at him. Butler blinked, and all he could see was an empty aisle.

Artemis was woken up rudely by a punch on his shoulder. He blinked, bleary-eyed, until his eyes focused on a whiteboard dancing up and down in front of him, saying _Arty! I just helped land a plane! That was so cool! Butler let me push a blue square button on the ceiling, a yellow round button on the front, an orange-y looking one on the front and heaps more!_

How could a whiteboard dance? He rubbed his eyes and looked around. Sana was holding the whiteboard in front of him, dancing out of excitement. He glared at the girl, cutting through her excitement. "So? I've been flying planes for ages." He got out of his seat and exited the plane, nearly wilting from the intense heat. Sana following him, writing hastily.

The whiteboard reappeared in his vision. Artemis stopped and read the text scrawled all over it. _Yeah, Arty, but that's just you. Other ten-year-olds don't fly planes in their spare time. They do other things with other people. It's called 'playing with friends'. Ever heard of the term? Actually, probably not, since the only other person your age you talk to is me. That's pretty depressing actually. This holidays, I'm going to learn how to fly a plane AND find you another friend._

Butler, descending the stairs, was just in time to see the horror in Artemis's face at the suggestion.

* * *

Artemis leaned against the Land Rover that Butler had just hired. In front of him, Butler was finalising the details of the care for the jet as well as the Land Rover's hire. The sun glared down from a brilliant blue arch that no cloud dared to mar. Artemis felt like he was about to melt into a puddle and die. The heat was so intense, the air came off in waves from the ground. As he slowly drooped and slid deeper down the side of the vehicle, he looked, glassy eyed, at Sana, who was did not seem affected by the heat at all. Finally, finally, Butler walked over to the car and started the engine up. Artemis desperately twisted and opened the car, only to feel billows of hot air rushing out of the car. _How long has this been in the sun? It feels like an oven!_

Butler turned on the air-con. For a few minutes, hot air continued to bellow out into open air, until, at last, cold air began to gently caress Artemis's skin, slick with sweat. Artemis hurried into the interior of the car and relaxed. Sana, out of nowhere, hopped into the car too. However, even though she too was covered with sweat, she looked more comfortable than her adoptive brother.

Sana took her marker out. _Arty, heat too much for you?_ Damn, she had realised what Artemis felt like.

"No. I am just merely not acclimatised to the present conditions."

_Right._ Sana looked sceptically at the boy. _Could you say that again in English?_

"I am speaking in English."

_What I mean is… Bah. Never mind._

Butler drove the vehicle off the smooth tar roads of the airport onto the unsealed roads of rural Morocco. Immediately, the ultra-thin padding of the seats became noticeably thinner, and Artemis, used to super-thick, luxurious, leather holstered seats, began to prepare for his death by excess vibration.

"Butler, were there any better Land Rovers for hire?"

"No, Artemis. This was the best they had to offer."

Artemis fell into an uncomfortable silence. He looked over at Sana, who seemed to be braving every rut and rock better than he was. Sana just sat there, hugging that ridiculous yellow furry monstrosity that was her backpack. She didn't even jolt when the car drove past an especially deep hole. It must be the dance training coming into use, or she didn't notice how uncomfortable her surroundings were. Something hit Artemis on the shoulder, bouncing off and landing onto the seat. Picking it up, it looked uncannily like a part of the ceiling. He looked up. Sure enough, a small hole was now located on the ceiling directly on top of his shoulder. Soon, holes, blocked by bits of clay coloured the same as the bit of car they were supposed to fill, began to appear everywhere in the car. After a while, the car floor was littered by small blocks of clay. To top it off, around an hour after leaving the airport, the air-con died, spluttering its last as the small party of three drove past the same monotonous landscape from Casablanca to Fez. The further they went, the bigger the puddle around Artemis. Besides the irregular jolting he went through, he could literally feel his suit melting around him, losing its shape and form as time went by. Occasionally, long, black fingers would poke out of the box next to him, but apart from that, there was no movement in the backseat at all.

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The action's coming up, so people, please bear with me as I try to make the boring bits in between interesting. Actually this chapter's more like an in-between thing. The next chapter's the important one. So yeah. Have a nice day! X]

**Oh, and I've been thinking of changing the title of this story. Any suggestions? Or should I keep this one?**


	10. A small fish for a big fish

The quiet in the car was broken only by the miniature jolts that were felt when the Land Rover drove over a pothole. It had been a very, _very_ long time since someone's voice had been heard. Butler drove in silence, cruising at a hundred and fifty kilometres an hour, his hands gripping the steering wheel firmly, occasionally glancing into the mirror to check on his young charges. Artemis sat in the full glare of the sun, his pale skin turning red from the relentless rays of sun that were partially reflected off the peeling tint on the windows. Since the air-con's death an eternity ago, he had begun melting, a literal puddle forming around him.

_Someone's going to turn into a lake soon_, Sana thought, smirking at the sight of the pale Irish boy frowning uncomfortably. Not that she was in a better condition. Her arm, resting on the window sill, if cars have window sills, was slick with sweat. She shifted slightly. Her legs were sticking to the fake leather seat, light blue shorts damp with sweat. Sitting in the shade, a wind's breath blew over her from a hole somewhere, cooling her marginally down. She looked over at her brother. At least she wasn't the one in a suit. A dark blue one, at that.

She tapped Artemis on the shoulder. The shoulder of the blazer wilted, disintegrating into a pile of limp fabric. She tried again, this time poking him hard. Artemis turned around. He was uncomfortably aware of his hot face, of the incessant vibrations emphasised by the thin seats, of his suit, slowly disintegrating in the heat.

"What is it?" he asked irritably.

Sana shrugged her shoulders, imitating the way people took off their jackets. Artemis looked at her blankly, his eyes glassy. Sana sighed, and got her whiteboard out. _Why don't you take your suit jacket off? That way, you'll be cooler, won't you?_ He read the question slowly.

"No. Fowls never give in to uncomfortable conditions. I don't know why it should begin with me." He turned back haughtily to the window.

Sana sighed. Artemis's pride was the only thing keeping his jacket on. She squeaked some words on to the whiteboard, tapping Artemis' shoulder again. _At least put some sunscreen on. Your face is going to burn soon. You don't want to see what's-his-name with a lobster face._

"Fine." Even though his voice was resigned, Sana could tell the relief Artemis felt at her suggestion. Smiling, she opened her bag. Pikachu looked up at her with black button eyes as she rummaged for her sunscreen. Finding it, Sana handed Artemis a non-descript white bottle. He looked at it, puzzled. How does one use these objects? Sana, seeing his confusion, sighed again and reached over for the bottle. Sana pointed at herself, then at the bottle, moving her hands in a circular motion, ending it by pointing at Artemis. He nodded, realising what she wanted to do. Squeezing a small amount of sunscreen onto her palm, she began smoothing the cool lotion onto Artemis's flushed dry skin. Artemis felt the cream cool his face.

"Sunscreen isn't supposed to cool me down. It is supposed to prevent UV rays from harming my skin, thereby preventing sunburns."

Sana smiled, concentrating on rubbing the sunscreen evenly into the boy's face and neck with one hand. With the other, she began to write, uncapping her marker with her mouth. _You know a lot about what makes sunscreen, Artemis_, teased Sana, poking out her tongue. Even his neck was turning red. _But you don't know how to open a bottle._

Artemis defended himself. "I have never needed to use any type of lotions, creams or _sunscreens_."

Sana grinned, giving Artemis' face a final rub. _Fine, whatever. Anyway, I learnt it of my mum, who used to add moisturising cream into her sunscreen. It's supposed to do something or other. I just know that it feels better than normal sunscreen._

Artemis turned back to the window, muttering his thanks. Sana began staring out of her window, and silence, once again, conquered the space inside the vehicle.

Sana suddenly felt something poke her waist. Looking down, she noticed long black fingers poking out of large holes in the box next to her. The lemur! It must be hot too. She opened the box and scooped the lemur out. Feeling for her water bottle, she poured some water into a glowing blue cup and let the lemur drink. The lemur drank quickly, and after a while, its thirst quenched, it chattered quietly and patted her hand. Sana smiled sadly. Lifting it back into its box, its eyes gazing about curiously, she petted its head gently. Sana closed the lid of the box and looked at her hands. She could still feel the beat of his heart.

_Jayjay's going to die. I don't want him to die! I wish I could save him… Mum, Dad, what should I do?_

Sand drifted in thought for a while before remembering the strange conversation with the fairy. Casting her doubt aside, feeling a bit stupid, Sana closed her eyes and began to attempt reaching out with her mind…

Butler glanced yet again into the mirror, to see that the puddle under Artemis had increased in size. Artemis, seemingly oblivious to the contribution he was making to combat drought in Africa, was staring out of the window miserably. Shifting his gaze to Sana, who, the last time Butler looked, was giving the lemur some water, was now asleep, as opposed to her brother wallowing in misery and pessimism. Long brown hair straggled out of its bun, the pencil securing it leaning precariously on her shoulder. A small thin line of drool had formed, joining the corner of her mouth to the side of her face with a white crusty line. Butler smiled at the sight. The slightly tender smile disappeared as his concentration went back to the road. Butler drove on as the city of Fez, first a smudge on the horizon, gradually grew as the Land Rover approached as a small dot on a barren plain.

An electronic buzz shattered the silence in the car. Sana jolted awake just in time to see Artemis smile thinly, emotionlessly, at the text he was reading on his phone. The corner of her mouth felt tight and dry, and touching it, felt a thin dry crust trekking over her cheek. She got her water bottle out, and, pouring some into her hand, washed away the dried saliva.

Artemis cleared his throat and spoke. "Butler, the leather souq in two hours."

"Yes, Artemis."

"Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes, I am ready. Now all I need to know is the layout of the place."

"Very well. We'll head there now."

Artemis sank back into his seat. _Now, _he said silently, _let's see just how resourceful those creatures from the Park are._ He transferred the lemur from the box to a cage, and smiled, his incisors gleaming. _Don't worry, little lemur,_ Artemis silently addressed the lemur, _you won't die today. You are my bait. I've got bigger fish to catch._

Sana, on the other hand, was staring out the window, fascinated at the scenes presented to her as the car crawled through the throngs of people on the street. One minute, goat herders would be herding their goats with sticks in time to the music playing on their iPods and Walkmans, the next, a woman clad in an abaya and scarf would be fighting it out over the price of a chicken, Nike runners visible under the hem of her clothes. Dirty children played in the street while their parents watched satellite TV through open doors and the volume turned up as high as possible. As she was watching these scenes, a delicate tendril touched her mind. Immediately, she reacted, lashing out at the tendril.

_**Sana, it's me. Holly.**_

Sana stopped attacking.

_Sorry._

_**That's okay. Have you ever attacked someone with your mind before?**_

_Um… no? Why?_

_**You're very strong. Did you just react without thinking?**_

_Pretty much, yeah. Anyway, how do you reach out with your mind?_

_**I think of my mind as a vine, reaching out one delicate tendril to reach the sun.**_

_How nice._

_**Where are you?**_

_I have no idea. Wait, I'll ask._

Sana scribbled out her question. Butler glanced at it, skimming over the text.

"We're about fifteen minutes away from the leather souq."

_Fifteen minutes away from the – _

_**I know. I saw your thought.**_

_Oh. Where are you guys?_

_**We're nearly there. Now, when you go there, what are you planning to do?**_

_I'll ask, and you see._

Sana felt somewhat weird at the thought that Holly could see her thoughts.

_**Don't feel afraid. It's not like I'll be searching through your mind. I'll just stay here and wait for you to think what they say.**_

Sana made a face as Butler parked the Rover near the souq. All three of them got out of the car, any sweat instantly drying up in the dusty hot air. A faint smell of something horrible wafted from the souq.

Sana tugged on Artemis' sleeve, but he ignored her, and walked into the souq holding the cage. Sana followed, and the acrid smell of droppings cannonballed her in the face. She scrunched her nose up in disgust. Butler had disappeared. Looking around, Artemis nodded satisfactorily as Sana tugged on his sleeve yet again, holding her question in front of him. This time, he did answer, brilliant blue eyes blazing with… something.

"I will participate in the exchange, and Butler will stand in one of the five possible places that snipers use. I will plant decoys in the other four." Artemis turned away and moved to a vat where the light shined the strongest. The light will dazzle Kronski, the leader of the Extinctionists, as a petty revenge for the smell that occupied every space possible in the souq.

_Did you get that?_

_**Yeah. Thanks. I'll keep in touch.**_

_Sure._

Sana felt Holly withdraw from her mind. A large man in an ugly camouflage suit caught her eye. She stared at the newcomer. Serene and smiling peacefully, he stood out from the desperate tourists, who took a few pictures before sprinting out of the souq, and the leather workers, dyed all colours of the rainbow. Sana took a quick look around, spotting Artemis standing in the corner holding the lemur's cage. Jayjay seemed to know something was going to happen, sitting in the middle of the cage quietly, a delicate paw covering his nose. Sana almost laughed aloud at Jayjay's posture.

Sana closed her eyes, and, concentrating hard to imagine her mind as a vine, slowly reached out and roamed over the minds of the people in the souq, aiming for the one mind that seemed to crackle with electricity.

_Holly!_ Sana opened her eyes, triumph blazing in her eyes.

_**Sana, is that you?**_

_Yeah. I did it! Anyway, what are you planning? How are you going to rescue Jayjay?_

_**Did you just call him Jayjay?**_

_Yeah. The name just floated into my mind earlier, so I kept it._

_**OK. I'm on the ground, planting small button bombs on different vats of dye. I will detonate once Jayjay is in Kronski's hands. Then Mulch, the other person with us, will come up from the tunnel he's dug and grab the lemur from Kronski's hands. He's a dwarf, and so that will happen in a few seconds. Then we all run for it and enter back into the future.**_

_Good. _A movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention. _Artemis is moving, so hurry up!_

_**All done. I'm safe and hidden, and while we've got time, I'll teach you how to disappear. Technically, it's called shielding, and it's a good skill to know as well as being one of the easiest skills to learn. First, reach into your magic.**_

_Where would that be?_

_**It's inside your mind somewhere. It should feel like blue electricity.**_

…_I've got it. What do I do now?_

_**You know hummingbirds and how their wings flap so fast you only see it as a slight shimmer? Well, concentrate on doing that.**_

_Uh. Ok._

Sana did as she was told, and was immediately rewarded by the weird looks people gave in her general direction.

_I think I've got it. Everyone's looking my way funny._

_**To prove it, bump into something.**_

_Ow! I just did, and sparks came off._

_**That proves you've got it. Don't do it a lot though. Sparks and stuff coming from nowhere looks spooky.**_

_Sure. I'll practise by myself for a while, and you can concentrate on the mission. Bye._

Sana withdrew from the contact, realising that the conversation was taking less and less time. In fact, while she had finished her lesson on _shielding_, Artemis had not even reached Kronski yet. She grinned and moved into the shadows, practising her new skill. Careful not to touch or bump into anything, Sana began to flicker in and out of sight. A sharp-eyed worker gave her a look, and Sana fizzed back into the visible spectrum, giving the person a wide grin. The worker shrugged and got on with her work.

Butler stood in his hiding spot, an infra-red scanner held in front of him. Keeping one eye on Artemis, who had just received the money, he turned the camera and scanned the readings. Noticing one abnormal reading, he began to move in that direction.

Artemis placed the money into the inner pocket of his blazer and placed the cage on the rock. Kronski lifted the lemur out, examining it from all angles. Artemis stepped back, and the vats began exploding. Kronski looked around, dazed, as dyes of all colours began to rain down, not believing what was happening. Artemis grinned mercilessly. _I will have the biggest catch of my life soon._

Sana grinned with amusement at all the people's reactions as the impromptu show of fireworks and dyes began. Tourists and workers alike looked up in wonder, until the dyes began to rain down. Then chaos reigned as tourists ran for cover, slipping in puddles formed by the dye and over wet, coloured dirt. Workers hastily began to gather up their materials and tools, bumping and crashing into each other in their haste, except one. The one worker not reacting, moving purposefully, was a solidly built man in a shoulder blanket who turned around and headed for the north-west corner, presenting his profile to Sana. Understanding turned to horror as she realised what was happening, and she slammed into Holly's mind.

_Holly! Move! Butler knows where you are and he's coming!_

_**What?**_

Sana caught a thought about broken mikes and earpieces. She watched in dismay as Butler stood up straight, several heads taller than his previous size, and walked purposefully to an empty vat in the corner.

_HOLLY! GET OUT OF THERE!_

Butler reached in and covered Holly with his blanket. In ten seconds, Holly was hoisted over Butler's shoulder, hog-tied, in another few seconds, Butler had disappeared. Sana stared in shock at the crowds in which Butler had melted into, and then snapped her head in Artemis's direction.

Artemis slid his phone into his pocket. Butler's message filled him with euphoria. Grinning widely at Kronski, who was covered in rainbow splatters with a hardened gloop gauntlet, he offered the enraged Kronski a deal.

"A strong opening. I may be able to help you with that. For a price, naturally."

Kronski glared at Artemis, who gave him the most innocent smile he could muster. No one was fooled.

"We'll talk about this, this, _offer_ of yours in my compound." Kronski turned and stalked away, Artemis following obediently, his mind speeding at a million miles an hour. Sana ran and caught up with him.

_What are you doing? Where are you going?_ She jotted urgently.

Artemis brushed her off. The creature Butler had secured would be worth more than twenty times than the lemur. If he played this well, he would have more than five million sitting in his account this time tomorrow.

Sana noticed the look on Artemis's face. He was lost in his thoughts and calculations. Sana knew better than to interrupt him while he was thinking, and turned to another way of figuring this out. She reached out with her mind…

_Artemis, is that you? _She felt the startled Artemis look around, then smile and begin to concentrate.

_**Hello. Are you Sana?**_

_Yep. Anyway, I think they're going to the Extinctionists' office, or whatever it's called._

_**Really? Why are you helping me?**_

_Because I think what your younger self is doing is wrong, and I can't help Holly. Artemis knows I'm here, and if I disappear suddenly it'll look suss._

_**So you turned to me to help? And how did you know about Holly?**_

_She started it._

Sana heard Kronski ask who she was, and Artemis answer. They got into a large Land Rover, much more comfortable than their last one. The plush seats were lined with soft, white fur, the air-con was working, but Sana didn't notice anything.

_You know where the compound is?_

_**It's did you know where the compound is, and my answer is no.**_

_Then listen carefully. We are driving to the left down the street in front of the souq, turning right at the place with three palm trees. When you get to the big bush looking thing…_

Thus, by describing their journey, Sana led Artemis Fowl the elder to the compound. On entering the compound, Sana broke connection with the older Artemis as Kronski led the two children through a magnificent looking chalet, where Kronski gestured to a sofa and left them. Artemis began observing the pictures on the wall while Sana flopped to the marble tiled floor, both of them refusing to sit on the monstrous sofa covered with the pelt of Falkland Island wolves. Sana observed this with some confusion. _If he hates this place, why did he sell little Jayjay to them?_

Kronski entered the room dressed in a kaftan, disturbing the thoughts of the children. He sat down in an office chair, ranting about his misfortunes until Artemis began to bargain with him.

"All is not lost, Doctor. I can provide you with something that will rejuvenate your society and make it globally relevant."

"What are you selling, Ah-temis?" His tone was sceptical, but Artemis still smiled at him confidently. Taking out his phone, Artemis showed Kronski something that made him even more sceptical. Both of them had forgotten Sana's presence.

"What is this? Photo manipulation?"

"No. Genuine. This creature is real."

"Come on, Ah-temis. What we've got here are latex and bone implants. Nothing more."

_Artemis! I think your younger self is trying to sell Holly!_

_**I have already predicted that outcome. However, how much is she going for?**_

Sana listened carefully. _Five million euro in diamonds._

_**My memories have been hit-and-miss so far, and that can only mean that I have had my memories wiped.**_

_Memories wiped?_

_**Nothing. Thank you for telling me, and please keep me updated.**_

_Sure._

Kronski was still talking. "That's mighty accommodating of you, Fowl. How do you know I won't double-cross you? After all, I'm pretty…"

Sana zoned out, thinking…

Butler stepped into the room with a Kevlar duffel bag. Kronski let out a ear-piercing squeal, and Sana decided to pay attention to what they saying. After Butler said his bit, and the zipper was finally open, everyone crowded around the duffel bag. Sana looked into it, and stared into a blue eye eerily like Artemis's and a very familiar hazel eye.

_Hi, Holly. Sorry I couldn't save you._

_**No problem. Don't worry about it.**_

_I think your Artemis is coming to save you somehow._

_**You contacted him?**_

_Yeah. He said something about mind-wipes too…_

_**Really? Glad to see someone sane in this group.**_

Sana shook with silent laughter. Everyone in the room turned to look at her. Immediately stopping her laughter, assuming the expression of someone at a funeral, she met Holly's eyes once more.

_I'll think of something._

_**Thanks, Sana.**_

**

* * *

**

Hey people! Thank you to all the people who reviewed. Next chappie will be Holly's trial, so stick around for the stuff that's about to happen!


	11. Diamonds are a girl's best friend

Artemis looked at the fairy on the table. He could not believe that this diminutive figure contained power that could instantly command his will, since this creature was so, well, _small._ Short auburn hair, brown skin, child-like physique with adult proportions… Artemis felt a twinge of regret. If only he could keep both the lemur AND this creature. Artemis could already see future discoveries based on the untapped power and potential of this fairy and her race opening doors of opportunity. The figure in the bag moved her head, and her eyes met Artemis' gaze directly.

_What?! One of her eyes is dark blue… the exact shame shade of blue that can only be found within the Fowl family! The blue that only Father and I possess! How?_

Kronski interrupted Artemis' thoughts, scattering his theories on this phenomenon over the four corners of this world.

"Little Ah-temis, even though the lemur has escaped my grasp, this creature far exceeds the monkey's potential and worth. I have forgiven you. She has been found worthy to be executed in the hallowed halls of this great and mighty group!" Kronski giggled madly at his theatrics. He rather fancied himself as an actor. Kronski winked in what he thought was a friendly and happy manner.

Artemis scowled at having to stoop to the level of this mad human in order to get the money needed to find his father. Kronski's transparent attempts at being friendly were beginning to wear Artemis' nerves down. "The money?"

Another grotesque grin. "Here." A velvet drawstring pouch, produced seemingly out of nowhere, was placed into Kronski's open palm. He offered it to the aloof boy.

"Butler, verify it." Butler reached over and grasped the black bag. Placing a jeweller's glass in front of his eye, Butler opened the pouch, gently drew a diamond out of it and, facing the light, began examining it. Light bounced off the gleaming gem, dancing radiantly around the room.

Kronski was making the deal of his life. No one will ever doubt his credibility to lead the Extinctionists again! "Now, now," said Kronski in a hurt tone, which was ruined by the gigantic grin splitting his large flabby face, "Do you suspect me of swindling you? Don't you trust me?"

Artemis said coldly, condescendingly, "Nowadays one cannot be too trusting."

Kronski laughed shrilly. "Yes, I totally agree. Nowadays," he mimicked, his voice pitched high in a terrible attempt to copy the boy, "One cannot be too trusting."

Butler finished his examination. "These diamonds are definitely the highest quality diamonds on the market right now, Artemis. This one is, at any rate."

Artemis pocketed the black velvet bag. "Good. We will now take our leave." Artemis bowed mockingly in Kronski's direction and strode out of the room where the Land Rover from before was waiting. Nobody noticed a heat wave shimmering in the corner of the room, occasionally emitting sparks as it brushed the wall.

* * *

When the others were still crowding around the bag to look at the prone figure lying in it, Sana quietly crept away from the group and stood, half-hidden behind a potted plant, and waited until all the guards were looking away. She looked at Artemis, who had just pocketed the bag of diamonds, shielded. Sana mentally apologised to her Artemis and then made contact with the other.

_Arty, it's me again. Where are you right now? What are you going to do?_

_**I'm near the wall of the complex. I plan to infiltrate the place by assuming the persona of Malachy Pasteur, a young French-Irish heir to an abattoir empire.**_

_Are all your preps ready?_

_**Talk properly, Sana. Say words properly. Going back to the topic, yes, my **_**preparations**_** are ready.**_

_Your younger self just left the place, so they'll probably head back to the Manor after this._

_**When does the banquet start?**_

Sana gritted her teeth. For the fiftieth time her elbow had touched into the wall in the narrow gap, causing sparks to emit from the contact and zapping her. She looked around furtively. No one seemed to be in the room. Good, she would not be noticed. Rubbing her sore elbow, she stealthily sneaked out of the place to the fake beach and lied down on the sand, the warmth from the sand and the sun seeping into her bones, relaxing the girl. The afternoon sun cast a golden glow over everything, and the rays glimmered over the waves. The wave machine whirred quietly.

_Heya, Arty. I'm back!_

_**The banquet starts at seven-thirty in the evening, three hours from now. Can I assume your help in the coming operation?**_

_Duh. 'course I will! That's why I sneaked away from your younger self and the our younger self and the younger Butler._

_**Make your way to the banquet hall a few minutes before the banquet starts so you can sneak in with the other people going in. Hide somewhere safe with a good vantage point and then contact me.**_

_Yarr-kay._

The connection broke. Sana spread her arms out. _Huh?_ The sand around her body was flying! _What the hell?... Oh right! I'm still shielding, aren't I?_

Sana stopped shielding. Immediately, the sand stilled, and the sand in the air landed on the girl. Sana sat up and brushed the sand off her body. Lying back down, Sana contemplated looking for the older Artemis, but it was too comfortable in the sand. The warm caress of the sun, the warm softness of the sand, the soothing sounds of the waves…

Sana opened her eyes. _Where am I?_ Bleary hazel eyes looked around, then snapped open. Swearing under her breath, she looked at her watch. _What? It's seven-fifteen already?! _Sana began to run towards the entrance. She remembered seeing a hall two minutes after driving through the entrance of the compound. Cursing Kronski for building the stupid compound so large, she increased her pace, feeling a stitch blooming just under her ribs. Sana was regretting lying down on the beach. Even though it was comfortable and let her relax after the meeting between Artemis and Kronski, she could not be late for the banquet, or Holly would be lost. Sana ran faster. Her breathing echoed through her being. The only thing she was aware of was the rhythms of her pounding feet, one after the other, counting down the time left before the banquet started. Suddenly, the pounding stopped, yet Sana was still moving forward, could still feel her legs running. Confused, Sana looked down. The road seemed very far away. Looking up, her eyes were level with the top of the window frames of the indentical houses lining the road. Before, her eye level reached just above the windowsill. Sudden realisation flooded through her body. _I'M FLYING!! Or floating. Whatever. I'M FLYING!!_ Grinning elatedly, Sana ran faster, her legs now moving as a blur and maybe because her magic was moving her, not her body, her stitch disappeared. The houses sped past her in a blur.

* * *

Artemis looked around. After the Extinctionists had kindly lent them their Land Rover, Artemis had been sitting comfortably after getting Butler to rip out the fur lining the seats. Now however, he realised that they had left something behind in the compound.

"Butler, where's Sana?"

Butler did not turn around. The road was getting crowded around the airport. "She didn't come with us when we left. I thought you knew and so didn't say anything."

"Oh. She can deal with herself. She's got her credit card and passport with her anyway, so she can make her way home by herself, right?"

Butler in assent of the fact, grunted. Despite his words, however, Artemis felt a little guilt and worry squirming in his heart. He locked it, like the emotions before, away. _Even if she is younger than me, Sana can look after herself. I'm not her guardian, nor was, is, or will ever be. _Artemis hid behind and drew comfort from this flimsy argument.

* * *

Sana slowly ground to a walk as she approached the banquet hall. Limousines of every kind lined the drive. She put up her shield, and then began to edge into the crowd in the hopes of making it through the door. Even though she was being as careful as possible, because she couldn't see herself, Sana inadvertently bumped into a lot of people, giving them small electric shocks. Every time Sana crashed into yet another person, she mentally apologised to them whilst wincing at the pain. By the time she got into the banquet hall, Sana was seeing stars from the pain of every shock. She unshielded for the briefest moment to see where her hands were, and then Sana swung them up and smacked herself in the face. Her head now clear, Sana walked into the hall and then, making sure no-one was looking in her direction, unshielded and scrambled into a small nook hidden on the back wall of the room, where a hole let her see everything happening in the room. A powerful smell of incense and candles welcomed her as she climbed into the hole, trying not to cough. Sana folded her legs, trying to avoid soot and dried wax. Below her, the dinner began. She watched soups and other delicacies be served to the patrons in the hall served in skulls and skins, feeling her appetite going. She watched Kronski, wearing a ridiculous purple suit with an even more ridiculous hat introduce the entrée. She watched the acrobats chop up the ice so that the yellow fish could be served. She watched the meal progress, the people in it talking about something or other. She even watched a raven-haired young man with a goatee pick at his food.

_Arty, look up towards the back wall, about two three metres up._

Sana saw the raven haired boy with the goatee look up in her direction from his meal. All around him, the Extinctionists were making small talk about animals and killing animals. Artemis was an island of calm and sense in a sea of blood-thirsty, animal killing sharks. He smiled.

_**Is that your hand waving in the crack in the wall?**_

Sana withdrew her arm.

_Yep. It's quite amazing that there is a niche back here. Because there's a hole in the bit in front of me and I'm sitting on dried wax and soot marks, I think it's for a candle or something. There's heaps of these little nooks all along the walls. Probably put candles in here and then darken the place up for some effect or other. Anyway, what are you going to do?_

_**During the trial, I will defend Holly's case. To trick them, I will need to use, as you would call it, a magic trick'. Then I will attempt to get Holly out of here. When that happens, I need you to help us get out of here, since you know the layout of this place the best. We will meet at the main entrance. If all fails, regroup at the souq.**_

_Right. Got it. Ohh, the thing's starting._

Kronski stood up and began to talk. Artemis turned his head back to the podium. Sana followed suit, just in time to see Kronski press a button on a remote control, and the metal floor of the hole in which the yellow fish were carved out of the block of ice opened, revealing a pit underneath the hole, the opening criss-crossed with multiple laser beams.. Kronksi threw a melon into the pit, breaking one of the beams. Immediately the pit was filled with blue-white flames, burning the melon to a crisp. Sana felt sick. These people did this every year to some poor innocent animal? This was the fate that awaiting Holly? The instant after that thought crossed Sana's mind, Holly was revealed strapped to a baby's chair. A live camera feed showed her pointed ears. Sana felt the rich lunatics beneath her notice Holly's pointed ears and then look at each other in glee. Their hate and bloodlust was suffocating.

"We got ourselves a fairy."Sana watched in silent fury as the Kirkenhazard guy shook Kronski's hand and clapped him on the back. It was sickening to watch their glee and happiness at having another race to prosecute and kill.

_Holly?_

**_Sana, is that you?_**

_Yep. Arty's here to rescue you. When he wins the trial thing and frees you, come to the main doorway and I'll lead you guys out of here. Even though it's pretty easy to get out of here, I think Arty expects fights and chaos and stuff to block the exits, so that's why I'll lead you guys out. If not, go to the souq from before._

**_Okay. Thanks again, Sana. Go listen to what's going on right now. See you later._**

_Sure. See-ya!_

Sana's attention went back to the scene. Kronski was speaking again.

"But who will defend? Which unlucky member will draw the black ball? Who will it be?" Kronski nodded to someone. "Bring the bag."

_Artemis, where are you?_ Sana silently urged, her muscles tensing with anticipation.

"No need for the bag. I will defend the creature." A slender man with a goatee and tinted glasses stood up.

"And you are?" Kronski asked uncomfortably. Sana caught her breath, but seeing Artemis so unruffled helped calm her down.

After a while, Kronski smiled in what was supposed to be a charming manner. "Master Pasteur, we are delighted to welcome you to Morocco. But, tell me, why would you wish to defend this creature? Her fate is almost certainly sealed."

"I enjoy a challenge," Artemis replied. "It is a mental exercise."

The verbal sparring went on. Kronski seemed to be getting more unnerved by the second. "Be careful what you say, Pasteur. You tread on dangerous ground."

"You mean I could sleep with the fishes. You would kill me, Doctor? A mere boy. I don't think that would bolster your credibility much."

Sana smiled gleefully. Artemis was getting serious.

"I don't kill _humans_. Just animals. Like the animal in this cage." Kronski's smile was way too fake to be taken seriously. He was also losing control over the crowd. Many people were silent after Artemis' little spiel about the organization losing its way. Sana could practically hear Kronski's mind whirring away to try take control of the situation. _Sorry, Kronski. You might have won if it was someone else, but this is Artemis, the certified genius. You're going down! _Sana smothered a giggle at Kronski's plight.

Every single time Kronski said something, Artemis rebutted it with his own argument, destroying Kronski's claim into little bits. Even after Kronski's mad speech, complete with twitching fingers, Artemis was calm, a bemused expression on his face. He glanced towards the back wall when Kronski had the whole audience's attention, and gave the smallest smile ever. Sana did not miss that smile. Sana smiled in anticipation of Artemis' speech. Then Kronski finished, and Artemis stood up for _his _speech. Even though Artemis talked normally, his voice carried to the back of the room. When Artemis had finished, Kronski was practically crowing with delight.

_What the hell, Arty?_ Sana raged, shouting her thoughts into his mind. _That was the most generic speech EVER! What happened to your genius-ness?_

_**Wait, Sana. I know what I'm doing. Trust me.**_

_Okay._

Sana subsided into a wary silence. Kronski began to stir up the crowd's bloodlust, stoking it to an even higher level than before. Then Artemis revealed his trump card.

"This creature was not our original defendant. Up until yesterday we had a lemur. Not quite a monkey, Mister Kirkenhazard, but close enough. I say we had a lemur, but in truth we aloes had a lemur. It went missing at the pick-up. Then, and this is important, then we were sold this creature by the _same_ boy who almost sold us the lemur, undoubtedly paid for from Extinctionists' funds. Does anyone else think this is a little off? I do. This boy keeps his lemur and sells us a supposed fairy."

"_Supposed_ fairy?" Sana could see the perspiration forming on Kronski's upper lip.

"That's right. Supposed. We have only your word for it, and of course that of Mister Kirkenhazard, who apparently is your worst enemy. Nobody is falling for that ruse, I assure you."

"Examine the thing yourself. This is an easy argument to win." Kronski was getting extremely nervous.

"Thank you, Doctor. I believe I shall." Artemis approached the cage.

Sana was waiting for this moment. This was the moment Artemis will rescue Holly using the sleight of hand thing!

Artemis told everyone about his x-ray camera on his phone, and then passed it over his hand. Sana looked, along with everyone else in the room, up into the screen, where his hand showed up, his bones bits of shadow in white flesh.

Kronski attempted to grin. The smile did not even curve upwards anymore.

"Do you have a point, Pasteur, or are you just showing us how clever you are?"

Artemis replied, a slight tinge of smugness in his words, "Oh, I have a point, Doctor. An the point is that were it not for the wideness of the brow and the pointed ears, this creature would seem remarkably like a little girl."

"A pity about the ears and brow. But for them you would have an argument."

"Precisely." With that, Artemis passed the phone over Holly's face. The x-ray vision of Holly's face came on the screen: dark shapes were seen on Holly's temples and ears.

"Implants." Artemis positively crowed. "Clearly the result of surgery. This _fairy _is a clever fake. You have tried to dupe us, Kronski." The crowd went mad with fury. Amidst this chaos, Sana noticed a tall, hulking man enter the room.

_Butler? But didn't they go a while ago? What's he doing here? Where's Arty-from-my-time?_

Kronski's voice blasted the thought out of her head. Sana's ears ringed with the practically screamed words.

"This is ridiculous. If you have been tricked, then so have I. No! I will not believe it. This boy, this Pasteur is lying. My fairy is real. Just give me a chance to prove it."

"I have not finished, Doctor," Artemis cried. He stepped to the dock. "These ears do not seem right to me. And your friend Mister Kirkenhazard was most gentle with them."

For several moments, the camera's view was obscured by Artemis' arm. Everyone stared in anticipation at the cage.

_Holly? What's happening?_

_**Artemis is sticking a Nu-patch onto my ear. He's very bad at this sort of thing, isn't he? So clumsy. **_

_Yarr. I know what you mean. Thank God this crowd is so dumb. Be careful of Butler. He's here too._

_**Really?**_ Holly's astonishment was cut short.

Artemis held up a crumpled, flesh coloured thing. "It's a fake," he called. "It came off in my hand."

Holly turned her profile to the camera. Her ear wasn't pointed anymore. Artemis' face was flushed with triumph.

_Good job, Arty, _sent Sana. _I would never have expected such a good trick from someone who's only good with his hands with needles and test-tubes and minute machinery._

Artemis' tone was bemused. _**Thanks, I think?**_ Artemis squeezed the bandage into a small compact ball.

"Is this the man we want to lead us? Has Doctor Kronski displayed sound judgement in this case? And _supposedly,_" Artemis threw the ear to the ground. "This creature can hypnotise us all. I rather think her mouth is covered so she cannot speak."

Artemis ripped the tape off Holly's mouth. Sana winced at the sight, looking on as the drama unfolded on the stage. The whole room turned quiet.

Holly began to sob. "I didn't want to do it."

"Do what?" Artemis prompted. Sana saw the people below her sitting on the very edge of their seats.

"Doctor Kronski took me from the orphanage. He told me if I had the implants, then I could live in America. After the operation I changed my mind, but the doctor wouldn't let me go." Sana smirked at the story. Were fairies all this good at making up stories on the spot?

"An orphanage," Sana could hear the (fake) suppressed excitement in Artemis' voice. "Why, that's bordering on the unbelievable."

"He said he'd kill me if I told."

The outrage Artemis showed was shared by everyone in the room. They all began shouting at once, some waving forks and knives in the air. Artemis' voice rang out clearly over the noise.

"He said he'd kill you. And this is the man steering our organization. A man who hunts humans as well as animals. You sir," pointing at Kronski, "are worse than the creatures we all despise, and I demand you release this poor girl."

Kronski tried to salvage the situation. He even drew out Holly's gun. Sana's breath caught once more, but the look on Artemis' face calmed her down once more. The gun, when shot, emitted one single spark. Sana smiled, an expression mirrored on her adoptive brother's face, shielded and began to make her way down the wall, stopping just in front of the guards in front of the doors. Suddenly, phones began to ring in the hall. On the screen, a video began to play, showing a Kronski wearing a camouflage suit squealing, balanced on one leg. Sana recognised the souq immediately. _Arty-from-my-time, did you do this? Is this why you sent Butler back? Holly was about to be rescued! Anyhow, must get to Holly._

The situation began to turn ugly. Guards poured out of the nowhere and secured all the exits. Upon seeing this, all the rich patrons in the room began to go berserk, trying to find a way out of the hall. On stage, Artemis was helping Holly up on her feet, the two of them dashing towards the cage, hiding behind it. Sana lept down into the chaotic crowd, losing sight of the pair, and tried to make her way towards them. She felt the two guards behind her collapse. Everyone, noticing the unguarded door, rushed towards it. Sana squirmed through the crowd like a salmon swimming up a waterfall.

Sana contacted Holly. _Holly! Where are you?_

_**Near the unguarded door. Artemis is still in there somewhere!**_

_What?_

Sana broke contact and lunged through the crowd wth a new ferocity, trying to reach Artemis. Soon she broke through the crowd fighting at the door. Sana saw Artemis grappling with Kronski on the stage, falling hard through the chair on which Holly had sat on only a few minutes ago. She ran desperately towards the fighting couple, power of flight forgotten. Artemis was kicking and punching for all he was worth, but Sana could see that his attacks lacked power. Several guards noticed her presence and tried to block her way, but Sana dodged them all, her eyes never leaving Artemis, and lept on to the dock platform on which they were fighting. She saw Artemis' heel hit Kronski's breast pocket, where the remote control for opening the platform was stored. Sana felt the floor give way below her, and, grasping the falling Artemis' hand, was consumed by blue flames. The last thing she saw was Kronski supporting and hoisting himself up by the railings surrounding the pit with murder written all across his flabby, ugly face.

* * *

Holly stood, near the unguarded doorway of the banquet hall, raking her eyes over the room over and over again, looking for Artemis, whom she had lost in the chaos that ensued, and Sana, whom she was supposed to meet. The hall was deserted.

_The souq. I will find them at the souq._ She turned resolutely away, and plunged into the night.

* * *

**Heey, people!**

**Opal's coming into the scene soon. That'll be super interesting to write about. Looking forward to writing Sana and Opal's meeting! **

**Et-R**


	12. Back to the Future

**The leather souq**

Artemis sat in front of a sniper window, trying to withstand the stink of pigeon faeces for the second time that day as he waited for Butler to come back from the rescue mission in the Extinctionists' compound. Dust covered everything in a light, fine powder. He dusted his suit off; a fresh, clean suit Artemis had changed into after enjoying a long soak in the jet's Jacuzzi. The workers had left for the day, the sun had finally set, taking its warmth with it, and in the evening gloom, the moon making its way up towards the heavens, Artemis saw the vats of dye look up, their pale, eyeless faces glaring at the sky, reflecting the gentle light of the moon. The only thing Artemis could hear was his breathing, regular and loud in the comparative silence of his surroundings. He had not felt this nervous since… actually, Artemis could not remember the last time he felt nervous. What was there to get nervous about when one was a genius? He looked at his watch. Nine-thirty. Two hours and seventeen minutes since the Learjet had landed in Fez airport after Artemis had commanded Butler to turn back. He still remembered the satisfaction on Butler's face as Artemis issued the command. Artemis began to pick microscopic lint off his blazer's sleeve. Soon he heard a light regular tread down in the souq, heading in his direction, and a few minutes later Butler came in through the door, breathing regularly, with small beads of sweat trickling down his craggy face.

"Well?" Artemis asked, prepared for the worst.

Butler answered steadily, "The female got out." Artemis noticed that Butler did not meet his eyes. _He's hiding something._ Then Artemis caught the implication.

"The female? The other one was there too?"

"The hairy one is dead," said Butler, nodding, "He attempted a rescue and it didn't work out."

Artemis gasped. "Dead? Dead?" He would not believe it. How could the hairy man die? Artemis felt guilt and grief slowly build within him, subtle as the tides that silently rise and cover entire shorelines.

"Repeating the word won't change its meaning," reprimanded Butler. "He tried to rescue his friend and Kronski killed him for it. But what's done is done, eh? And at least we have our diamonds. We should move out for the airport. I need to run the pre-flight checks." Butler tried to control his voice, suppress his anger. Artemis did not respond. Butler glared at the diamonds in their bag, slouched on his young master's lap, glimmering like a pile of fallen stars.

_Because of you, someone died!_ Butler wanted to shout his anger and grief at the stoic Artemis. But he was not paid to voice his opinion or to teach young Artemis the ways and morals of the world. He had already influenced Artemis too much on this mission. He was paid only to protect the life of Artemis, no matter how close their relationship was. So Butler stood there, barely controlling with rage and sorrow, as he waited for Artemis' next order.

**

* * *

**

Below the Extinctionists' compound

Sana landed onto a soft, rubber-like pad and let go of Artemis' hand. She sat up, and for the first time, Artemis noticed her presence, saying softly, "Sana, mindspeak with me." Sana obliged, sliding into the older boy's mind easily.

_**You're getting good with this.**_ Sana caught a thought about bins and fairies.

_Thanks._

_**Why are you here?**_

_Holly told me you were still in the crowd, so I went after you. I saw you fighting Koala-man and ran to the stage thing, but when I landed on it, the floor disappeared and I grabbed your hand and fell and I thought I was going to die but I didn't and –_

_**I get the point, Sana. If I am right,**_Artemis looked around, _**I have a feeling you just leapt from the frying pan into the fire. **_

Artemis got on his knees. _**Let's get off this thing first, and then we can try to escape.**_ He prepared to roll of the mat, but before he could do so, metal bands sprang out of nowhere and began to slide around the pair. Sana felt Artemis shove her in the back, and she stumbled and fell off the mat, rolling over the edges of the metal bands. She sat up just in time to see the metal bands trap Artemis securely.

_Artemis! Are you okay?_

_**Yes, I'm fine. However, it seems like we can't explore anymore. Shield, Sana. As I said, if I am right, you will need to shield. Just in case something happens**_, Artemis sent. Immediately after he said that, a purple gas began to be pumped into the chamber.

_**Hold your breath. It is probably a sleeping gas of some sort to subdue irritated animals.**_ Sana held her breath obediently before realising that the gas only covered the pallet. Finally, the gas crystallised, covering Artemis with purple flakes.

A hiss of gas near her made Sana turn around. A section of the wall next to Sana had disappeared, and in it stood a fairy. She only came up to Sana's elbows, but the fairy had an aura that made her seem bigger than she really was. The fairy stepped into the light, and Sana gasped. Immediately, Sana clapped a hand over her mouth before realising that no one had heard her cry. The fairy was beautiful. Huge round eyes in a pale, alabaster face looked out from a head that seemed oversized for her diminutive, but slender body. Soft, full pink lips were set over a pointed chin, and a shimmering cascade of hair flowed over her back, ending just above her elbows. Then the fairy's face twisted grotesquely, and the spell of her beauty was shattered. Sana stepped back from the obvious hostility emanating from her. In her mind, Sana heard Artemis hiss softly in annoyance.

_Who is she, Artemis? Is this fairy what you were thinking before?_

_**Yes. She's a pixie, and her name's Opal Koboi. I've had to defeat her twice already in the future, both times to prevent her from taking over the world.**_

_You're kidding! _Sana thought incredulously. _Twice?_

_**Yes, twice. How many times must I save the world from this loony? **_He sighed resignedly. _**I can't really tell you about it since I'm from your future and affect what happens… What I can tell you is that she is extremely intelligent and dangerous. No matter what happens, do not let her see you!**_

"This is not a lemur," said Opal, pointing a shaking finger at Artemis. Her voice was childlike, but it lacked the innocent charm that a child possessed. She tapped one toe impatiently.

"This is not a lemur," she repeated, "I know it is not a lemur because it has no tail and it seems to be wearing clothes. This is a human, Mervall. A Mud Boy."

_**Mervall is one twin of the Brill brothers, and will help Opal escape...**_ Artemis' mindvoice trailed off.

_And? When is this? What happens?_

_**Can't tell you.**_ Sana could tell he was enjoying stringing her along.

_Fine, be that way. _Sana thought, injecting her mock-exasperation into her mindvoice. _What can you tell me?_

A pixie Sana had not noticed materialised in the doorway. "I don't understand it, Miss Koboi. It was all set up for the lemur. You mesmerized Kronski yourself."

The two humans tuned out. _**I can tell you that the other twin is Descant.**_

_That's it?_

_**Basically**_. His amusement was palpable.

_Thanks for the info, Artemis, _Sana sent sarcastically,_ I really appreciate this piece of essential knowledge. _

"… Miss Koboi is, after all, perfection itself. Perfection does not make mistakes."

"Exactly. Well said, Mervall…"

_Does Opal actually believe that, Arty?_

_**Yes. She actually does think she is, quoting Mervall, 'perfection itself'.**_

_I'm glad you defeated her twice. Don't think I could stand her if she became ruler of the universe._

_**So am I, Sana.**_

They continued to mindspeak to each other, distracting themselves from their current situation, until Opal Koboi began to stride powerfully from the room, red boots clicking on the floor. Mervall, following his master, picked up the pallet on which Artemis lay and wheeled it arduously after his boss. Sana followed trepidatiously, still shielded, walking silent and cat-like. Thank goodness for her dancing teacher! He was a positive stickler for light, silent walking while dancing in order for his pupils to do all sorts of movements without sounding like a herd of elephants. She resolved to thank him in her next lesson, until the party of four walked out of the passage into a large, harshly lit laboratory, the sight of which drove all thoughts out of her head.

**

* * *

**

The leather souq

Ten minutes had passed since Butler had back from the Extinctionists' compound, the bodyguard still standing silently behind Artemis, looking around alertly, his emotions now becoming a calm, serene lake. Artemis had not moved for the past ten minutes, the young Irish boy still sitting in front of the window, an arm placed casually on the lower edge of the window. The bag of diamonds still sat slouched on Artemis' lap. It tipped to one side as Artemis' leg twitched, and Butler snapped his eyes towards him.

Suddenly, a group of heavy footfalls could be heard coming to the souq, and Artemis' head snapped up and leaned carefully over the edge of the window for a better vantage point. A few seconds later, the girl skidded through the entrance of the souq, her feet throwing up plumes of dust. The moon bathed everything in a gentle, silver light, throwing shadows everywhere throughout the area. The girl stopped, considering where she could hide, panting slightly, before running towards the doorway of where Artemis and Butler were hiding. Suddenly, one of Kronski's guards appeared, ghost-like, in the doorway, holding a dull knife, stalking stealthily out of the doorway. Fear dashed across the girl's face as she reacted almost simultaneously to the guard's appearance, turning violently towards the wall where Artemis' window was situated, losing a shoe in the sudden movement. She ran towards it, her gait uneven from the loss of her shoe, before two more guards, one holding a net, blocked her path. Artemis recognised the net as a weapon of ancient Roman gladiators, but it was clear that the fairy did not. Confusion etched in her face, she dashed, one more time, towards a dark alleyway where a man could barely fit, before yet another of Kronski's guards appeared, dirty hair reaching his waist. The guards formed a circle on the edges of the souq, arms outstretched, herding the girl to the centre of the souq. She stood there, as tightly coiled as a spring, turning this way and that as the guards wove their way in and out of the vats, their faces grinning horribly.

Artemis watched in shock. He had already caused the death of one of the party, would he cause the death of this creature too? Artemis shook his head. Something shifted its weight on his thigh. He looked down, and saw the diamonds winking from within their housing. Inspiration struck through the boy's mind. He looked up, back towards the figures in the centre of the souq. Artemis' heart thumped as he saw the guards less than a meter from the girl. He drew a hand into the black bag, then Artemis threw the diamonds he had withdrawn as hard as he could towards the group.

"Help!" The cry, despairing, fearfully, rose from somewhere in the tightly knit group. The diamonds glittered in the air, falling like a shower of rain. The guards stopped their advancement. They looked up as a group, looking, smiling, arms outstretched as the diamonds fell through the air, hitting them, landing in the dust with little plumes of dirt flying, landing with soft plops into the pungent dyes.

Then a voice, this time gravelly and male, cried out, "_Des diamants_!" The guards' formation wavered and broke as they scrabbled through the dust and, in several places, the dye vats to collect as many diamonds as they possibly could. Several scuffles broke out over the diamonds. Artemis smiled grimly and reached his hand into the bag again. The fairy in the centre of the souq stood there, unbelieving, head turning as she looked around the area wonderingly. She glanced in Artemis' direction just as he was withdrawing his hand. The fairy smiled slightly, then jumped back startled as a guard dived past her leg. She turned around, saluted in Artemis' direction, and raced out of his vision, one hand holding her lost shoe.

Artemis spoke. "Let's go, Butler." The boy rose and walked out of the room, unaware of his bodyguard's happy and satisfied smile.

**

* * *

**

Below the Extinctionists' compound

Sana followed Mervall and the 'unconscious' Artemis down the centre of the laboratory. Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw that, all around her, large cages were stacked on top and next to each other. The cages were barely big enough to fit the animal housed inside it, cooping the animals inside their cages, waste and dirt covering the floor of the cages where little grey pellets littered the floor of these cages, presumably the food that the animals ate. The animals were a different matter altogether. Where once there were majestic animals covered with soft, silky fur, ruling over their land and territory, there were now animals cowering against the bars of the cage, their gentle eyes glazed with pain. Birds who once reigned over the sky, feathers splashing the blue vaults gloriously with colour now huddled pitifully on the floor of their cages, feathers unkempt and falling out. Who could bear to do these barbaric acts to innocent animals who never did anything wrong in their lives? In front of her, the small pixie had already reached the centre of the lab, where numerous pallets were lined up in a circle, every pallet occupied by a sleeping animal covered here and there by plastic looking pads. Sana hastily wiped a hand over her eyes and contacted Artemis.

_Arty, are you okay?_ Sana sent, unconsciously seeking comfort from her adoptive brother.

_**Yes. It'll be over soon.**_ Artemis continued to send reassuring words and images to the girl, as if he could feel her emotional turmoil. Then,

_**Ugh. What is that?**_

Sana looked up to see Mervall unpeel one of the plastic things off a tiger. The underside of the pad was covered with spikes, dripping with some unknown substance.

"Full to the brim, Mister Super Genetically Modified Leech Mosquito thing. You are a disgusting abomination, yes you are. But you sure know how to siphon brain fluid. I'd say you're due a squeezing." Mervall left Artemis' pallet and walked over to a fridge, pumping a foot pedal to open the door. The fridge was filled with rows and rows of glass beakers, and the tiny figure ran his fingers over each one until he found what he was looking for.

"Here we go. SibTig BF."

_**That is disgusting. This is a depraved, horrible place. We need to get out of here. I will formulate a plan, and when I tell you to do something, follow my instructions to the letter. Understand, Sana?**_

_Yes, sir!_

_**The first thing I want you to do is to hide behind a cage somewhere and stop shielding. You will need to save every drop of magic you have, just in case we will need it later. Then wait for my instructions.**_

_Got it._

Sana withdrew from Artemis' mind. Looking around, she found a cage near Artemis' pallet. The cage was occupied by a sleeping bear, its bulk hiding Sana's lithe frame. She unshielded, and looked on as Mervall parked Artemis' pallet into an empty space next to a tiger, whose four paws stood up stiffly in the air. Sana could feel the tears coming again. Struggling to control herself, she did not notice the soft clicks of a pair of boots hitting a hard floor until she heard a soft, female voice behind her.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in." Sana whirled around to see Opal's obsidian eyes drilling a whole into her head.

"How did you get in here?" Opal continued, her voice soft and mild, belying her earlier ear-piercing performance in the room under the flames. "My mind tells me you snuck into this place when the Mud Boy fell through the flames instead of the lemur, but how come you weren't there in the room?" She twitched a finger, and Mervall scurried to her side. _What? But Mervall was treating Artemis with those leech things!_ Sana twirled around. Mervall was definitely there, choosing a leech to place on Artemis' bare arm. Turning back to Opal, Mervall was still standing next to her.

Opal laughed at the obvious display of confusion. "This is Descant, the twin brother of Mervall, who is looking after your human friend behind you." Understanding dawned on the girl. Artemis had mentioned them earlier!

Opal smiled evilly. "Descant, get her." The pixie moved to Sana's side and grabbed her arm. Sana hit and punched randomly, trying to shake his grip off her arm, but the pixie evaded all her blows, never once letting go of her arm.

Descant leant down. "Sorry," he whispered into Sana's ear, then karate-chopped at a pressure point at the base of her neck, using a move used by the ancient Chinese martial artists to combat their enemies. Just released from the red river hog's cage, he still sported bruises the size of rock melons from where the river hog had head-butted him. The memories still fresh in his mind, he did not want to experience Miss Koboi's wrath again, willing to do anything for her to avoid a punishment like the river hog. So he watched unemotionally as the girl slumped down on to the ground, her eyes closing, her breath becoming even.

"Pick her up," Opal commanded coldly. "Put her in my office, and tie her in my chair."

"Yes, Miss Koboi." Descant knelt down, his bruised body screaming with pain, and hefted the girl onto his shoulder. Trying not to let the taller figure of the human touch the ground, Descant slowly made his way to Opal's office.

***

Something warm was shining down on Sana. She opened her eyes blearily. _Where am I?_ The room was all white, except for a wooden desk in front of Sana, tied to a chair. Opal Koboi sat on the far side of the desk, her feet on the table, watching what was going on in the lab. She noticed the girl waking up, and smiled, showing off her perfect teeth.

"Hello. Welcome to my office. Usually it's Mervall or Descant here, but they're treating the animals. Besides, I need to talk to you myself." Opal swung her legs off the table. She leant forwards, one hand supporting her head. Sana squirmed in her chair, trying to escape Opal's gaze as well as trying to loosen the knots on the ropes tying her to the chair.

Opal continued to talk. "I want to know who you are, how you got in here and how much you know. That's all." Opal smiled innocently. Sana shivered at the pixie's total change in character.

"What's your name?" Opal asked.

Sana glowered at the pixie. Opal looked at her. "Why don't you talk? Cat got your tongue?" Sana reflected dully that that was the second cat reference in ten minutes. Opal frowned. "Speak, Mud Girl! Or can't you speak?" Sana shook her head. Opal pressed a button on the keyboard. Immediately after pressing the key, the chair let out an electric shock. Sana cried out silently in pain.

"Now, now," said Opal, her voice hardening as she spoke, "It seems like you really can't talk, can you?" She got up and walked over to the other side of the table, sitting down on top of the desk. She cupped Sana's chin delicately, lifting the girl's head up to meet her gaze. She smiled dangerously. "That won't stop me though. Let me tell you a bit about this chair. This baby took me three years to develop, and can detect lies from Mulch Diggums himself. Every time you lie, the chair will give you a shock. Isn't it smart? It's so sensitive it even works on mouthed answers. If you don't mouth your answers, I'll just press the button again. Either way, unless you tell the truth, I win. But hurry up. I haven't got enough time. If you keep dallying, I'll just suck your memories out of your brain directly."

Sana met Opal's eyes furiously. The pixie frowned, understanding what Sana wanted to say. Her eyes glittered with a perilous light. "I won't suck your memories out of your head yet, if that's what you wanted to know. Why would I want to do that? That's no fun. I want you to tell me everything. Now. What's your name?"

Opal stared hard at Sana's lips. Sana swallowed hard, and mouthed her name.

"Anna McOwan." This time, when the electric shock came, Sana refused to cry out. She bit the inside of her mouth hard, trying to escape the pain, which left as swiftly as it came. Opal glared at the younger girl.

"Let's try again. What's your name?" Opal's voice was laced with anger and hatred. Her grip on Sana's chin was like iron.

Her mouth shaped the syllables carefully. "Anna Mc –" Opal cut her off.

"I know that's not your name. Give me your real name." The last sentence was layered with bass tones. Sana felt like melting into the sweetness of that voice.

"Sa –" Sana stopped, horrified at what she was about to reveal. She tried to shake her head to clear it of Opal's magic, but Opal's grip was too strong. Instead, she closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply, just like how Butler taught her a few weeks ago. Her mind began to be clear of the fog Opal had clouded it with.

Opal's voice cut through the fog. "I see. You won't give me your information voluntarily. Fine. Be that way. I'll take it from you anyway. And I was looking forward to a bit of fun too…"

Sana felt Opal get off the table and come near her. A smooth, cool finger touched Sana's forehead gently. Sana stopped attempting to meditate, and mentally observed Opal's actions warily. Before she knew it, a snaky tendril of Opal's mind had wormed its way into Sana's mind. However, even before Sana started reacting, Opal's tendril stopped, and began jabbing at Sana's subconsciousness, where her memories were stored, trying to find a weak point in the structure. Gradually, Sana realised that Opal couldn't reach her memories, although she didn't really know why. Sana grinned, elated, then began to attack Opal's mind with her own. She felt the pixie flinch. Suddenly, Opal withdrew, and the Irish girl opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sana. Duty calls. Seems like your boyfriend has escaped from his pallet and is wandering around the complex. Nice meeting you." After that announcement, Opal stalked out of the room. Although no one could see it, Opal had just had the hell scared out of her by the power she found in Sana's body. Magic users could only take memories from someone with less power than themselves. Opal, through her extraction of various brain fluids from all kinds of animals, had gained more power than any other creature on or under the Earth. So, theoretically, Opal had access to all the memories of all the creatures on and under the Earth. Except, not a moment ago, when she had tried to siphon off Sana's memories, she could not even penetrate the magical barrier surrounding the girl's subconscious, let alone steal her memories. Opal shivered, and quickly strode through the corridors towards the Mud Boy. _That girl back in my office has more magic in her than me…_

The minute Opal left, Sana began to try escape from the bonds her hands were tied in. She began twisting her wrists slowly, remembering something Juliet had told her a while ago, and soon her attempts were rewarded when the ropes slithered to the ground. Sana stood up, stretching, working the kinks out of her limbs. Her hands, numb from being tied tightly together by the rope, began to get pins-and-needles. Sana winced and began to massage her hands. Walking over to Opal's desk, Sana saw a screen filled with mini-screens from cameras all over the complex. In one of them, she saw Artemis wearing some weird looking goggles, and Opal walking towards him. Next to the mini-screens there was a map of the complex. Sana grinned with relief. Even better, the office was marked in red, and the spot that was Opal was blinking in red as well. _Have to get to Arty. Have to get to Arty._ Chanting it like a mantra, Sana memorised the directions to Artemis and Opal, took off her thongs and tied them together with the rope, slinging them around her neck. Padding quietly with bare feet, she walked over to the door and opened it, peering into the corridor beyond. Empty. Her heart pounding drum-like, Sana crept as quietly and as quickly as she could, following the directions from the map she had memorised in just a few seconds. Was it the second corner, or the third? She couldn't forget now! She turned the second corner, and was rewarded by the sound of Opal's voice floating down the corridor. She hadn't turned too early after all! Sana slunk down the corridor, and she heard Opal exclaim,

"Exactly, you bright Mud Boy. That wonderful lemur brain fluid is the last ingredient I need for my magic boosting formula."

Sana heard Artemis sigh. "Magic boosting formula? Listen to yourself."

Opal began to rant for the second time in a few hours. "I had a whole bunch of lemurs before but the LEP appropriated them to cure some plague…" Sana used this distraction to slip into Artemis' mind.

_Arty? Sorry for not being able to help._

_**Sana! Glad you're okay. I'm controlling the computer system right now, and after she finishes her little speech, I'm going to open the all the doors of the cages. Use that to get out.**_

_Okay. See ya later!_

_**See you outside!**_

Sana walked towards the bear from before, keeping to the shadows. The minute the cage doors opened, all the animals went berserk, leaping, crawling, slithering, flying, squawking, out of their cages and leaping towards the fire pit. Sana leapt onto the shoulders of the bear the moment it charged out of its cage, and tried to stay on the bucking animal. The bear rushed past, following the melee of animals down the cavernous lab to the corridor beyond. Sana clung to the bear's matted fur desperately, and looked behind her. Opal was blasting away like a demon, animals collapsing immediately after coming in contact with her magic. All around her, cages fell down like collapsed Lego buildings; fridges spilled its fluids across the floor. Behind her, Artemis leapt on to the back of a stripy horse that was not really a zebra but kind of looked like one, and both horse and boy leapt on to an operating table, jumping from one table to the next. Opal had given up on magic and now wielded a laser gun, which explained the number of collapsed animals in an arc around her. Now aiming at Artemis, she let loose a shot just as a group of weird looking animals hurtled between the two. Artemis had now finally reached the corridor to the pit. He twitched his fingers.

In the flame pit, where a whole herd of animals had already gathered, a ramp began to descend slowly down the pit. The animals screeched and howled as a feeble light began to pour down the pit, bringing fresh air with it. Birds flew out of the pit, screeching their freedom for all to hear. Smaller animals climbed on to larger animals, all waiting for the moment when the path to freedom reached the floor. The minute the ramp touched the ground, the animals surged towards the ramp, climbing higher until they reached the top, where, squished together for the shortest amount of the time, they burst out into the dining hall where Kronski once reigned, and leapt out of the entrances into the plains stretching out under the Moroccan night sky. The gathered Extinctionists past in a blur as the bear Sana was still riding galloped out of the compound, their cries of shock muffled under the cries of freedom emitting from the animals. Next to her, Artemis rode his mount with the expertise of an Olympic equestrian. Soon, a small craft flew over the two animals, scooped up the two humans, and flew away swiftly.

In the fairy shuttle, Artemis and Sana lay spread-eagled in the cargo hold. The last ten minutes had been fantastically, unrealistically dream-like. Suddenly Artemis sat up, and hurried quickly to the cock-pit, where Holly and Jayjay sat. Sana followed more slowly.

"This may seem like a silly question, but is Jayjay…" Artemis' voice trailed off.

Holly spoke. Her voice sounded exactly the same as her mindvoice. "No. Autopilot. And nice to see you alive, by the way. You're welcome for the rescue."

"Once again, I owe you my life. Now, I hate to move directly from gratitude to petulance, but why have we slowed down? Time is running out. We had three days, remember? There are only hours left."

"We were pinged by something at the compound," said Holly, tapping the screen. "Someone's computes have down-loaded our schematics. Can you tell me anymore about that?"

Sana struggled to stay awake through their explanations. She slid down the wall she was leaning on and sat down on the floor. Drowsily she heard their discussions and banter. Sana jerked awake. She couldn't sleep now! Sana shook her head vigorously, trying to clear it of the fog that clouded her brain. Her head, in the process, hit the wall with a loud crack, the pain making her brain wake up partially. The other occupants, noticing the sound, turned her way. The dwarf, the one, Sana presumed, who had swallowed Jayjay earlier in the souq, burped in her direction. Sana cringed.

"Sana! Thank you for helping earlier," Holly said, getting out of her seat and crouching in front of the girl.

Sana scrabbled for pen and paper. _I didn't really do anything, _she wrote slowly. _The only help I contributed was telling Arty where to go. I have to thank __you__ for saving me back there._

"Oh, right. You're still in your no talking phase. You told me about that five years later or something like that. And no problem. It's become a rather annoying habit. I've saved the whole of this Mud Boy's family already. I don't mind saving you though. I'm your au –" Artemis clapped his hand over Holly's mouth.

Bending down to Holly's ear, Artemis whispered, "We can't tell her yet. You have to give her the note, remember?"

Sana watched their exchange with suspicion. She shrugged, and yawned widely. She had plenty of time to weasel information out of them after getting a good sleep. So thinking that, Sana dropped off quickly, becoming oblivious to the discussion that followed afterwards.

oOo

The sun was disappearing over the horizon as the shuttle coughed and spluttered into the rear courtyard in Fowl Manor. Holly and Artemis began doing checks on their surroundings. Sana stood talking to Mulch, the dwarf. The two had become good friends on the long trip to Fowl Manor.

_Bye, Mulch,_ wrote Sana. _I'll probably see you sometime in the future, if I keep hanging with these people. Not that I'm from the future._

"Yeah, you probably will. Try to stop them from kissing each other. It's not good, having interspecies couples."

Sana grinned. Jayjay leapt into Sana's arms, waving its paw at Mulch. It began chattering.

_Hey, look, Mulch. Jayjay's saying goodbye to you._

Mulch looked suspiciously at Sana. "Do you understand what the lemur's saying?" Sana nodded. Mulch, surprised, whistled. "How come you never told me you have magic?"

_Didn't I? Well, you know now, don't you?_ Sana wrote, shrugging.

"Yeah, I guess."

Artemis took Jayjay from Sana's arms. Soon, after Holly, Artemis and Mulch had said goodbye to each other, Mulch was left behind in the shuttle as the others hurried into the Manor, opening and closing the back door softly. Artemis led the way as the four moved through the hallways, Holly guarding the rear. Artemis unconsciously scratched Jayjay's head.

Holly, looking stressed, said, "Come on, Artemis. Number One is weaker now, so we have to jump soon."

Artemis navigated the stairs carefully, Sana and Holly following his exact footsteps. "Nearly there. Seconds away."

Finally, they reached the study, where everything was left exactly the same as nearly seventy-two hours ago. Holly's shoulders slumped, shaking, revealing an exhaustion and tension she had kept hidden until now.

"I thought you were dead," she said.

Artemis smiled wryly. "Me too. Then I realized that I couldn't die, not in this time."

"I presume you're going to explain that to me."

"Later. Over supper. Now can we open the time stream, friend?"

Sana, who had been walking around the room, suddenly swished open the bay-window curtains. The younger Artemis and Butler stood there, wearing foil suits. Butler unzipped his suit, revealing a large gun strapped to his chest.

"What about a time stream?" said the younger Artemis. Sana groaned. As the two Artemises argued over the finer details of their points, Holly sank to the ground, her hand over her heart. Sana ran over to her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

Sana slipped into Holly's mind. _Holly, what's wrong?_

_**The magic. It's fading**_. Holly's mindvoice was haggard with pain. Sana frowned, concentrating on a way to help Holly.

_How did you get here? How do you get magic if you run out?_ Sana asked.

_**I got here through a demon warlock's spell. He also topped up my magic this time by giving me a booster.**_

An idea began to form in Sana's head. _Do you think it'll work if I gave you some of my magic to keep the spell strong?_

_**I hope it does.**_

_OK, then. I'll try it._ Sana sat properly, arm still slung across Holly's shoulders. She reached out to Holly's mind, creating a connection, then reached into her own mind to the blue bit of her mind she had noticed earlier when Opal was torturing her. Grabbing a whole mindful of the sparks, Sana sent them down the connection to Holly. Sana could feel Holly bending the magic to keep the spell strong.

_Is it working, Holly?_ Sana asked, after sending about half of her sparks to Holly.

_**Yep. I can feel the spell staying strong now. Thanks, Sana.**_

The two looked up in time to see the older Artemis snip off the last lock of hair and finish off his explanation of their actions. The shock on Artemis the younger was palpable. The two Artemises regarded each other gravely. Then the younger Artemis said something unexpected.

"I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not." Butler said, alarmed. "I can't protect you properly in the future with these people."

"It's my mother, Butler," said Artemis simply. "I must save her. Now I charge you to stay by her side until I return. Anyway, how could they hope to succeed without me? Now," he continued, turning to Holly. "How do we go to your time?"

Holly stood up. "Everybody, stand around me." Everybody crowded around her. Then Butler spotted Sana too.

"Sana, you're not going. Two Artemises are enough," Butler objected. He waited as Sana took her pen out.

_She's my mother too now,_ Sana reminded him gently, _I have to go back and help. Besides, I'll help you keep this one, _Sana pointed to the younger Artemis_, Out of too much trouble, OK?_

Butler hesitated, and then nodded. Sana turned around to face Holly, who smiled and continued issuing instructions.

"Focus on your destination. It should be easier with Number One's magic directing us, but its better safe than sorry. OK, here we go." Holly activated the magic. Artemis the younger looked at his arm dissolving in mid-air.

Holly grinned wickedly. "Chin up, Mud Boy," she said, "And watch out for quantum zombies." Before they dissolved completely, Holly had the satisfaction of seeing the panic in young Artemis's eyes. Then they were in the time stream.

Sana looked around curiously. The time stream was a space filled with sparkling waves, stretching on for eternity. A crimson thread pulled them through the tunnel, leading them to the right time and exit. All around her, she could feel the others' minds. The two Artemises were, once again, arguing, this time about ending Schubert's unfinished symphony or something in B minor. Holly was wrapped up in thought, and Jayjay was calm and unruffled, taking it as it comes. Then Sana felt someone else's mind in the river, but that unknown presence soon disappeared, so Sana did not dwell on it. Suddenly, they approached a place with a brilliant white light, through which the crimson thread lead, and then the party of five formed back into physical forms on the plush carpet in the Fowl study.

They were in the future.


	13. The Goodness of Animal Fat

**Hi people!**

**A bit shorter than last time. Hope you don't mind. :P**

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Sana blinked and looked around. It didn't look like they had gone anywhere. They had materialised in the study, and judging from the appearance of the room, it had not changed at all. Same thick wine red carpet, same arched windows. There was the large wooden desk, piled with papers, there was the door linking the study to Artemis' laboratory, there were the fireplace, dark and dusty from lack of use. Sana turned slowly, comparing the study to the one in the future. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Artemis the elder make his way to the wardrobe and dress. She was surprised at his clothing choice, which was more casual than his normal suit-and-tie attire. He left the room, nodding at something behind Sana, placed his finger over his lips to remind them to be silent before leaving the room quietly.

A guttural voice sounded from somewhere near the floor. "Seen any zombies?" Sana looked down and froze. A creature barely three feet tall with moon-grey skin stood, wiggling its sixteen fingers spookily. A red glow was slowly fading from squiggles that were swirling their way across its body from its forehead, finally settling in rune-like symbols that swirled in a dizzying design across the creature's chest, neck and head. Its eyes were eerily orange, and they were staring straight back at the girl. The two stared at each other, not backing down, until another voice, this time lighter but more horsey, as if it would break out in a whinny, interrupted their staring match, issuing from the large stereo speakers attached to the numerous television screens in the room. A long, horse-like, very hairy face was projected onto each screen, the body attached to the face hidden from the camera.

"Thank the gods!" it exclaimed jubilantly, speakers crackling as it sighed loudly, broad nostrils flaring. "That was the longest ten seconds of my life!" Then, anxiously, "Did you get the lemur?"

As if he understood that the face was talking about him, Jayjay scampered up to the nearest screen and licked it, small pink tongue crackling. He scrambled back, leaping into Sana's arms where he perched glaring at the face, holding it responsible for the static charges zapping his tongue.

"One lemur. No female?" The face asked, speakers crackling. Holly, standing next to Sana, shook her head.

"No. No female. You'll have to clone him." The face nodded, acknowledging the fact, then became larger as the being leaned closer to the camera, looming menacingly over the group as it tried to peer past Holly. Sana turned around, following its gaze, and noticed for the first time Artemis the younger shuddering on the floor. She swallowed hard, trying to suppress her laughter. The younger Artemis trembled, and then, mastering himself, sat up, still shivering slightly.

"That was quite uncomfortable," said Artemis, and stood up unsteadily. He leaned heavily on the chair behind him.

The face raised one eyebrow. "I see we have an – "

"Let's talk about that later," Holly interrupted, "For now we have work to do."

The face, nodding, speculated, "I'm guessing, from the look of things, that Artemis has a plan of some sort. Is that going to be a problem for us?"

"Only if we try to stop it."

Holly, catching sight of her reflection, went over to the mirror, gazing at her reflection with a relieved expression on her face. Artemis took Jayjay from Sana, stroking the little lemur, comforting him with clicks of his tongue.

"Time to see Mother," said Artemis, putting the primate down and making his way over to the wardrobe before selecting a suit. He began to put it on. "How much fluid should I administer?"

The face answered, "It's powerful stuff. Two cc's. No more. There is a syringe gun in Holly's medi-kit bedside table. Be very careful with the brain drain. There's an anaesthetic tab in there too. Give Jayjay a swab and he won't feel a thing."

"Very well," said Artemis. He took the kit and pocketed it. "I shall go in alone. I do hope Mother recognizes me."

"So do I," said Holly, nodding her head. "Or she may object to lemur brain juice being injected into her by a total stranger."

Jayjay leapt onto Artemis' shoulder. "Farewell," he said stiffly, formally, "I wish you all good luck." He exited the room, the lemur perched on his head picking through his hair.

Immediately after his departure, the grey-skinned creature pointed at Sana. "Who is she?" Holly looked around, and laughed as she noticed the girl standing awkwardly to one side.

"Sorry," she apologised, "I forgot all about you in all the excitement." Holly made her way over to Sana, addressing the face and the creature, "Foaly, No. 1, this is Sana." Gesturing to the creature on the floor, "Sana, this is No. 1, the demon warlock who was responsible for the magical side of things." She then pointed to the face on the screens. "And that is Foaly, a centaur who has led the way through all technological advances for a long, long time."

Sana looked at them, and then back at Holly. She looked at them again, reaching for a pen. _Hi Foaly, No. 1. Why are you called No. 1?_ The fairies stared at the paper, until one of Foaly's programs finished the translation.

The centaur laughed. "It's a long story. You're taking this quite well, aren't you?" He inspected Sana. "Gosh, you're small! You're no-talking phase's started already? Your older self…" Foaly trailed off, catching Holly's warning glance.

"So is this what you looked like when you were younger?" No. 1 enquired. "You've changed a lot, haven't you?"

Sana listened bemusedly. _So you all know the older me? What's she like_? She waited for them to translate her question into Gnommish.

"Can't tell you," Holly responded. She winked at Sana. "It might affect your growth. And from what you're going to grow up to be like, I don't think you want that to happen."

Sana swallowed her curiosity with difficulty. Was that a compliment?

Holly turned back to the others and began sketching out Artemis' theory. The two fairy creatures sat gobsmacked throughout the whole explanation. A few seconds after Holly finished talking, No. 1 recovered enough to ask,

"That's it? You're not forgetting some crucial detail? Like the part that makes sense?"

Foaly joined in. "The whole thing is ridiculous! Come on, fairies. We've done our bit. Time to head below ground."

"Soon. Let's just give Artemis five minutes to check it out. All we need to do is be alert," reasoned Holly.

Foaly sighed, the sound sputtering through the speakers. "Well, at least let me raise the shuttle. The troops are holding at Tara waiting for a call-back."

"That's good. You do that. Whatever happens, we need to be ready to move out. And when you're finished do a sweep of the estate – see where that nurse is."

Foaly looked away, presumably calling the troops at Tara. Wherever that was. Sana felt a bit overwhelmed over everything that had happened in the last few days. First she went to the park, where the animals went ballistic and Artemis stole a lemur, then a fairy contacted her and told her she had magic, then she went to Morocco and that same fairy got kidnapped and she went to a compound and met up with another Artemis and saw an evil fat dude and then fell through flames and met a psychotic but beautiful pixie and then escaped riding a bear and then flew all the way from Morocco back to Ireland and entered a time stream with a lemur and two Artemises and a fairy. It all felt so unreal. Sana pinched herself hard. It hurt.

Holly was pointing at No. 1. "You just have a little of that signature magic dancing on your fingertips in case we need it. I won't fell completely safe until Angeline is well, and we're drinking sim-coffee in a Haven bar."

No. 1 raised his hands, and red light soon enveloped the little demon's hands. "No problem, Holly. I'm ready for anything."

Immediately after he said it, the monitors all blacked out, the speakers began whining with white noise, and the door burst open, the doorknob sinking into the wall like a knife into butter. Butler stood there, holding a gun and wearing mirrored sunglasses. Sana immediately shielded, vibrating out of the visible spectrum. Holly went for her gun, strapped to her hip, but Butler ripped it away, sending it skittling across the floor of the study. No. 1's eyes began to glow red, the markings on his body turning red, and he shot a bolt of energy at Butler, who was dragging a heavy steel drum filled with some slimy liquid into the room. All along the edges of the barrel were markings similar to the ones on No. 1. The bolt of energy hit Butler, scorching his shirt, sending Butler back, but the bodyguard used this as an opportunity to slingshot the drum into the room. Some of the liquid landed on the little warlock, smothering the magic floating from each fingertip.

The demon groaned. "I don't feel so great." He keeled over. Sana wanted to run over and help, but she did not dare. Not with Butler so close to the fairy. Butler turned his attention to Holly, who had unfurled the wings from her suit and was attempting to fly away, and grabbed her ankle, flipping and dunking the elf into the barrel. Butler then reached down and grabbed No. 1, squashing him into the barrel next to Holly. The gunk rose and covered their heads. Sana could see Holly's face rise up, just before Butler slammed the barrel lid shut. The bodyguard left the room.

The minute Butler closed the door behind him, Sana unshielded and ran over to the barrel. Up close the barrel seemed to be a lot bigger than she expected, reaching to above her waist and wider than two of her placed side to side. Planting her feet firmly on the floor, Sana pushed with as much strength as she could muster, willing the lid to move, but to no avail. The lid was sealed like Houdini in his escape attempts. Two spouts of the gunk sprayed from the lid. Sana looked up, standing on her toes to see the top of the drum clearly. The slime had issued from two holes had been bored through the lid. She doubled her efforts. Looking around the room, she found a metal poker lying in the fireplace and began to try prying the lid open, leaning on the poker until her feet left the ground. Finally, a sliver of a gap appeared between lid and barrel, until the lid lifted enough for the ten-year-old to push off away from the barrel. The lid fell to the floor with a thud. Holly's face resurfaced, as did No. 1's, gasping for breath.

_Are you okay?_ Sana asked, sending a probe into Holly's brain.

After a few more moments, Holly responded. _**Yeah. We're alive. Not happy, but alive.**_

_Let me get you out of here._

_**Get No. 1 out first. He's suffered more than I have.**_ Sana reached into the barrel and put her hands around his upper arms, slowly pulling him up as Holly pushed him from behind. After what seemed like an eternity, the gluggy mass surrendered. No. 1 popped out of the mass like a cork. Sana hugged the little demon, and then placed him gently onto the floor of the study. Going back to the barrel, she grabbed Holly and pulled. Finally, she too slid out of the gloop, falling onto the carpet. Sana got up.

_I'm going to check my parent's bedroom and see if it's all good. Then you can go to the bathroom in it and rinse off the fat._ Breaking the contact, Sana opened the door and peered out cautiously. There was no one visible in the corridor. Good. She walked quickly and silently down the hallway, making her way towards the bedroom. She opened the door just enough for her to see what was going on, and saw Butler lying on the floor shirtless with marks on his chest, but apart from that, everything looked normal. She ran back to the study, giving them a thumbs up. Holly and No. 1 staggered to their feet and the trio slowly made their way towards the bedroom, leaving behind trails of gloop behind them. Sana ran ahead and opened the door for them. They tottered into the room, following Sana as she opened the bathroom door. They got into the shower, leaning against the wall for support.

"Thank you," rasped Holly. No. 1 nodded in agreement. Sana took hold of the showerhead, turned the tap on and aimed it at the pair. They stood like this for a while until Sana's hand was covered by a massive hand.

"Let me do this," said Butler. Sana nodded, and let go of the shower head, stepping out of the way. At the sound of his voice Holly cracked open an eyelid.

"Hello, Butler." Only Holly could have made those four syllables sound so threatening.

"Please forgive me," said Butler. He bowed deeply. "Opal ambushed me on my way to the airport and mesmerized me. I tried to fight against her commands, but I don't think I did that very well."

No. 1 spoke up for the first time since coming out of the barrel. "Don't worry about it. From what I've heard, Opal's a very crazy fairy anyway." No. 1's voice strengthened as he spoke. "And without you combating it, you wouldn't have put the two tubes into the fat, and instead of two unhappy, weak, fat-covered fairies you'd have two dead fairies. So thank you for that."

"Thanks for that." Holly nodded at Butler. By now both fairies were strong enough to stand steadily on their feet. "And most people can't do anything of their own free will after being mesmerized at all. So your will power must've been extremely strong to be able to do that."

"So am I forgiven?"

Both fairies nodded. Then Holly grinned wickedly. "But as payback…"

Holly leapt forward and grabbed the showerhead from Butler, turning it onto the bodyguard. Caught by surprise, he had no time to dodge away and so caught the full blast from the jet of water shooting out from the showerhead. The two fairies laughed, cackling wildly. After his initial surprise, Butler joined in, a deep, booming, infectious laugh. Sana looked at him in surprise. Throughout all her years of playing with Butler, she had never heard him laugh. She had seen him smile a lot, but never laugh. Not even a chuckle. And now here he was, laughing like he did so every day. Sana smiled. Eight years could change a person greatly. Artemis and Butler were changing for the better.

**

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**

This one didn't really have a lot of Artemis-related action. If you like it this way, then review and tell me. If you want heaps of Artemis in each chapter, then review and tell me. Either way, just review and tell me what you think. XD

**When I wrote about Butler laughing, I thought about what Butler (Dom) would've been like as a kid. And this is what I got...**

**1. Mother: Dom, it's dinner time!**

**Butler: Wait, let me perfect this spinning kick!**

**2. Mother: I thought I told you not to play with firearms at the table, Dom.**

**Butler: But I only need to fit this piece in and then I will finish putting this .38 revolver together!**

**and so on...**


	14. Professor Primate makes his entrance

**Yes, Professor Primate does make his entrance, if only for a few short sentences. So please welcome Professor Primate to his debut in 'Dance of Life' with a round of applause!**

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Artemis bent down to examine the animal fat Holly and No. 1 had left behind on their trek from the study to the Fowl master en suite bathroom. Sana stood behind him, leaning against the doorway of the bathroom where the two fairies were being hosed down by Butler. Their laughter had stopped a while ago and the two fairy creatures had been retching on and off, punctuated with curses and complaints. Artemis did not take much notice of all this, observing it only in passing, his attention riveted on the animal fat. He stared, fascinated, at the expansive mass of gloop slowly spreading across the rug to coalesce with other, smaller masses of gloop. How ingenious was that pixie! Take out the magic-wielding elements of the equation by suppressing their magic; take control of the human factors using her own magic to effectively 'box in' the single unknown in the equation, in this case, himself. Unfortunately for her, this plan had backfired as the plan was effective only against one unknown and not two. If this had been his plan, he would have calculated this possibility into his equation, thus cementing the plan's success. The door opened quietly, and Artemis, noticing his entrance, turned to face his older self.

"Look," he said, standing up. "Opal used animal fat to suppress Number One's magic. How ingenious."

Horror flitted across the older Artemis' face, but the younger Artemis did not notice, his attention now on Angeline. The two Artemises stood there, looking at their mother lying peacefully in a goosedown duvet. She turned and coughed gently. Instantly, both Artemises and Sana had teleported themselves by her side. Artemis looked at the two ten-year-olds by his side.

"You can see how this might be awkward." He raised an eyebrow at Artemis standing next to him.

Artemis nodded. "I can indeed. Why don't I have a poke around in your… my study. See what I come up with." He turned and walked slowly away. Sana looked questionably at Artemis, head cocked to one side.

_Should I go too? _She sent. _Would it be weird if I was here? Actually, I'll just go and join Arty. Want me to keep an eye on him?_

Artemis smiled at the younger girl's thought process. _**That'll be great, thanks.**_

Sana nodded, smiling fleetingly at the fifteen-year-old, then turned and followed Artemis, who she found had not actually gone to the study and was instead skulking by the bookcase. She walked over and stood next to him, both children fixing their eyes on their mother. Angeline opened her eyes. Even from this distance Sana could see the shadows ringing her eyes.

"Artemis. I dreamed I was flying. And there was a monkey…" Her voice was rustling leaves dancing in the wind, barely carrying to where Artemis and Sana were straining their ears in the corner.

Artemis trembled slightly, relief etched into his every line, echoed in his every movement. "It was a lemur, Mother. Mum." Although his back faced Sana, she could hear the smile in his voice.

From the bed Angeline smiled and gently reached one hand up to stroke her son's face. "Mum. I have waited so long to hear you say that. So long." Angeline eyes closed, and lying back, she fell asleep, the echo of her last smile still lingering on her lips. Artemis stood there for a moment, and then, surreptitiously rubbing his eyes, turned around to greet Butler, who had just emerged from the bathroom dripping water on to the already gooey rug, leaning on the doorway for support.

"Welcome back. This little one is quite a chip off the old block. Gave me one hell of a jump-start." Butler smiled at the younger Artemis, who smiled back, albeit tentatively. Sana had not seen him smile genuinely since Artemis Fowl Senior's disappearance a few months ago.

"He _is_ the old block," said Artemis dryly. Artemis the younger raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"Those two," Butler jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "didn't enjoy their dip in the barrel."

"Animal fat is poison to fairies. Blocks the magical flow. Turns their own power rancid."

Butler frowned, the light going out of his eyes. "Opal made me do it. She… Miss Book approached me at the main gates as I left for the airport. I was trapped in my own skull."

Artemis laid a hand on his bodyguard's forearm. "I know. No apologies are necessary."

Butler twitched his lips upwards, asking "What did you do with Schalke? Knockout dart?"

"No. Our paths did not cross." Sana felt Artemis stiffen next to her.

Butler staggered across to the bedroom door, Artemis following closely behind him. "Opal is controlling him, though he's making her work for it. We need to secure them both right now." The pair hurried through the door and down the hall. Sana and Artemis glanced at each other and then, as if they had read each other's mind, broke into a run. The four of them reached the empty security booth some minutes later. Artemis rushed to the nearest window, the other Artemis and Sana following him, and gazed down the driveway, where a blocky rear ended Mercedes was about to disappear around the bend. Something bounced on the back seat. Squinting, Sana could just recognise Opal, but the setting sun shone into her eyes, making it hard for her to see clearly. Butler lurched over to loom over the three.

"This isn't over yet," he said, panting. Artemis did not respond. Then the engine began to whine, higher and louder than before. "Gear change," stated Butler. "She's coming back."

Artemis stood there, frowning. The two ten-year-olds looked at him, wondering about his plan. Or rather, Sana looked at him and wondered. The younger Artemis was no doubt thinking what he would do if it were up to him.

A few moments later, Artemis began to speak. "I need to take Jayjay away from here," he explained quickly. "So long as he is in the manor, everyone is in danger. Opal will kill us all to cover her tracks."

Butler nodded. "Yes. We can make it to the Cessna." His voice was laboured, sweat dripped from him onto the carpet. Anyone there could see that Butler was not fit enough to walk, let alone run to the plane and fly it.

"_I_ can make it to the Cessna, old friend. I am charging you with the protection of my mother and friends, not to mention keeping my younger self off the Internet. He is as dangerous as Opal." The younger Artemis opened his mouth to object, but Sana, guessing his intent, kicked him hard on the shin, making him bend over in pain. Artemis and Butler did not notice any of this.

Butler frowned resignedly. "Very well. Don't take her over three thousand metres and watch the flaps – they're a bit sticky."

Artemis nodded. "Three thousand. Flaps. Got it."

"Would you like a gun? I have a neat Beretta."

"No guns." Artemis shook his head. "My ain is so bad that even with Holly's eye to help me I would probably only succeed in shooting off a toe or two. No, all I need is the bait," He paused, thinking. "And my sunglasses."

Artemis turned to Sana. "Sana, you know the microwave heat gel packs in the medical kits? Could you heat one up for me please?" Sana nodded, bemused, and set off running towards the kitchen. He then turned to his younger self. "Don't do anything rash. Butler will keep an eye on you. Look after the fairies for me." Butler nodded from behind him. Artemis scowled after his older self, who had taken off and was now running up the stairs. He was in the future, for goodness' sakes! He could learn so much, updating his knowledge on newer technologies that had been invented in the last eight years, on political structures in the world, on the environmental crisis that was getting worse day by day, and his older self charged him with babysitting. Babysitting!

Butler chuckled. "I've never seen Artemis run so fast or so far." He leaned heavily onto his young charge. "Let's go back to Angeline's room and get the two fairies out of there." Artemis sighed wearily, his indignation running out of him like sand in an hourglass, and the two began making their way up the stairs.

* * *

Sana sat on a stool, watching the gel pack turn around and around in the microwave, when Artemis ran into the room and collapsed onto another stool in the room, panting hard. He leaned forward and put his head on the kitchen bench, cushioning his head with folded arms.

Sana smiled. _You're running._ She sent, her mindvoice tinged with humour. _You're actually running._

Artemis did not look up from the bench. _**For your information, I do participate in exercise now.**_

_What type of exercise?_

Artemis paused. _**Riding**_, he said sheepishly.

Sana withdrew from his mind, shaking her head, and smiled widely. She hit Artemis lightly on the head with a fist and went back to watching the microwave rotate slowly. Sana glanced at the clock, counting down the last few seconds left in a minute. Five…four…three…two…one... The microwave dinged softly. Artemis sat up, trying to master his breathing pattern.

"Could you get that for me, please?" Sana obliged, sliding off her stool and took the gel pack out of the microwave. She handed it to Artemis, who then took a stuffed monkey out from somewhere under the table and inserted the heated gel pack into the toy. Sana raised her eyebrows.

_When did you get a stuffed monkey, Arty?_ She asked, entering his mind once more. _I've never seen that before._

Artemis smiled grimly. _**It's my brother's plaything.**_ He zipped the little monkey's back up with urgent efficiency.

Sana nodded, and then frowned. _What brother? You don't have a brother._

"Yes I do." Artemis replied out loud, slinging the toy's arms around his neck so that the monkey hung from his neck like an oversized pendant. "A lot of things can happen in eight years, Sana. You'll know soon enough." With that, Artemis slid his sunglasses over his eyes and ran out the door, the little primate swinging from his neck.

After his departure, Sana slowly made her way out of the kitchen, thinking about what Artemis had said before running out the door as she walked back to the study. She paused at the window the four of them had looked out of only a few minutes ago, gazing out over the front lawn in front of the manor. Back in her time eight years ago the grass had been perfectly manicured with not one single blade out of place. The shrubs were grown and trimmed regularly and the trees were all the same shape. The garden had looked like one of the gardens that were always featured in the home-decorating magazines, but now, eight years on, it resembled more a wild meadow out in the country somewhere than a billionaire's front yard, with weeds and wild flowers mingling with the grass, which were not manicured but overgrown and unkempt. Not that she minded. Sana thought the garden looked more natural and beautiful than the one in her time, but Artemis Senior had always maintained the belief that the gardens needed to be kept neat and tidy to give their 'clients' a better impression on the Fowl family. What had happened? Angeline would never have let her husband's beliefs and mantras be forgotten or overruled, so what had made her change her mind? Maybe Arty, who had always said he would find his father, did end up finding Artemis…

Her speculations were promptly forgotten as Sana spied a small figure holding a helmet striding purposefully up the drive. The figure walked into the light and Sana gasped as Opal's beautiful but twisted features emerged from the gloom. She held the window ledge tightly, wishing and praying with all her might that Artemis had made it in time to the plane even with his extremely bad fitness levels, and, as if on cue, a small plane swooped over the manor. Opal stopped, lifting her head up to observe the plane more clearly, and then, as the plane swooped over the manor a second time, Opal placed the helmet over her head. For a long moment she looked at the plane, no doubt scanning the plane with some scanner in the helmet for something or other, finally finding what she was looking for. Pressing a button on her suit, wings sprouted from her back and Opal took off in hectic chase, soaring speedily towards the plane, arms folded across her chest to streamline her body and minimise resistance. Artemis and Opal flew over the manor, cutting off Sana's view abruptly. She sighed then continued her way up to the study, relieved that Artemis had made it to the plane in time, but her relief was tinged with worry for the Irish boy as Opal would do anything to get her hands on what the lemur, including murder.

The minute she entered the study Sana was ambushed by Holly with a gigantic hug unexpected from someone Holly's size.

"Sana! Thank you so much for getting me and No. 1 out of the fat," Holly exclaimed, letting go of the slightly dazed girl. "It was pure torture." She shivered, remembering the terrible sensations she had experienced in the barrel.

"Yeah," piped up No. 1. "Thank you, Sana. Even though I think we wouldn't have died in there, thanks to Butler's pipes," he nodded in Butler's direction, "It was still awful to go through."

Sana grinned at the two fairies, and then looked around, trying to find where her brother had gone to. She spotted him sitting on the lounge chair, reading a book on psychology. A stack of books were piled next to him. She smiled at the sight of him, until a loud voice interrupted her thoughts.

" Sana! Are you listening to what I'm saying?" said Holly.

Sana looked down at the elf, shrugging her shoulders apologetically. Holly shook her head in exasperation and repeated what she was saying before.

"The troops are going to be here any minute now, and when they arrive, we'll send you and Artemis back home to your time. One officer is going to accompany you to see you settled and to erase anyone's memories should they see you materialising from thin air, then the officer is going to come back. Arty's already promised you that you won't be mind-wiped, so you'll keep these memories in your head. But don't mention this to anyone. Got that?"

Sana nodded. At that moment, Jayjay leapt out of nowhere and landed on her head, scrambling his way down to her shoulder. She gasped, startled, then smiled and reached one hand up to the lemur. Jayjay butted his little head gently against her hand, and then made his way down to Sana's arms, where he sat, observing the world with his bright button eyes. Sana stroked him absentmindedly. Moments later, four fairies dressed in identical suits and helmets walked into the study. Holly frowned.

"Where are the rest of you?"

A deep male voice replied. "We're spread around the perimeters, just in case Opal comes back. Foaly's already briefed us, so we know what's going on."

Holly nodded. "I'll go out to get Artemis back from wherever he led Opal as soon as these kids are safe back home again." The officer nodded.

Sana handed Jayjay to Holly, sending, _Bye Holly._

_**Bye Sana.**_ Holly said. _**We'll take good care of Jayjay. Don't you worry.**_

Sana grinned. _I know._

No. 1 waddled up to Sana. "I guess this is goodbye then." Sana crouched down and met the little demon's eyes.

_I'll see you in my future,_ she sent into his mind. No. 1 nodded. He balanced on his stumpy tail, and then his eyes began to glow red, the swirls on his body slowly twining their way to his forehead. Sana stood and walked over to Artemis. He did not notice her, so she shook his shoulder gently. The boy looked up, surprised. He peered past Sana.

"What, are we going back already?" Artemis asked, seeing the suit-clad fairies in the room. Sana nodded. Artemis placed the book onto the stack next to him, glancing longingly at the books, and then squared his shoulders and made his way to the middle of the room. No. 1 looked at him, grinning.

"Artemis, aren't you forgetting something?" Artemis, hearing this comment, glared at No. 1 before beginning to unbutton his shirt. Sana followed his example. The fairy who had been chosen to go with them to the past was belligerent.

"What? Remove my clothes? This is insane! Why do I – "

Holly cut him off with a smirk. "Grub, I had to do this too. If I can do it, you can too. Keep the one piece on though. And don't go thinking you're going to complain about this, because it's all part of the job."

The officer grimaced, removing his helmet and unzipping his suit. Artemis hung his suit back up in the wardrobe before making his way back towards the centre of the room. No. 1 looked at him in surprise.

"Why, you're taking this better than your older self. He turned all red and all embarrassed, and you're just standing there." Artemis did not answer. What was there to be embarrassed of? It wasn't as if he was naked since he still had his boxers on. Beside him, Sana had shed her clothes in a pile and now stood straight and tall in her underwear and a camisole, also quite unembarrassed. The officer, on the other hand, made his way to the children slowly. No. 1 smiled.

"Hold hands with each other. Remember to focus on the exact time and place you had left your time. Grub, when they're all good, you don't have to do anything, my magic will lead you straight back here." All three of them nodded, grasping each other's hand. At least, Artemis and Sana did. Grub dithered about the indecency of it.

"Why do we have to do this? It's so bad! Why do I have to hold hands with two children? Two Mud children to boot?"

Holly lost her patience. "Look here Grub. If you don't move in the next second, I will buzz you." One hand made its way down to her buzz baton. Instantly after she suggested it, Grub leapt up as if he had actually been buzzed and hurried to Artemis' side, hooking his pinkie with one finger. No. 1 nodded and began to weave his spell. Just as Sana began to feel a bit light headed, a tall figure burst into the room. All of the room's occupants looked at the figure except No. 1, who was still in his trance. Sana gasped as she looked at the new person. The new girl was definitely human, she was too tall to be a fairy, and the girl was _beautiful_. Even though her features were not perfect as Opal's were, her face had a warmth and charm to it that Opal had lacked. The girl looked straight at Sana, and Sana felt a shiver run down her spine. The girl's eyes looked familiar...

A voice entered her head, urgently, compellingly. _Sana, go to the third oak tree by the river behind your house._

Then she was in the time tunnel, and the only thing she was aware of was the girl's words and Artemis' hand, warm, dry and gripping tightly to her own.

**

* * *

**

Hi, people! It's finally the end of the first adventure (or the last, depending on how you look at it) of little Arty&co. I feel a great sense of accomplishment. ^^

**Anyway, to answer some people's questions, no, Sana is NOT going to be in all of the adventures. That'll be too hard and too confusing. She might be in parts of some adventures, but definitely not all of them, and definitely not in the whole adventure.**

**Please review. Thankyou. -bow-**


	15. Home again

**Sorry it took so long! and sorry about this chapter! It's a bit dodgy... But the next chapter will have a lot of new developments, and it WILL be posted in two weeks. So please don't give up on this story!**

* * *

Artemis blinked. They were back in the study, and he and Sana seemed to have arrived without too much mishap. From his first journey in the time stream, Artemis had observed that his body had felt shaky, as if it could fall apart at any time. His violent reaction to exiting the time tunnel solidified his belief that one's atoms became unstable from entering and exiting the tunnel. He really would have to perform some experiments on it. If he could somehow replicate that kind of travel, travelling on Earth would forever be changed… Artemis let go of Sana's tense hand, shook the LEP officer's death grip off impatiently, and checked his body perfunctorily to see whether all his body parts were intact, putting his speculations somewhere accessible in his brain. Artemis walked over to the wardrobe and began to dress, looking around the study. No more fairies in suits and helmets, no more screens filled with Foaly's face, no more fat trails in the floor. Next to him, Sana had made her way to the pile of clothes she had discarded ten seconds ago (technically) and was already getting dressed. Behind him, the LEP officer was on his hands and knees, retching loudly. Artemis turned, buttoning the last button on his shirt.

"Officer," Artemis smirked, "As we are already here and 'settled', I think it's time you went back to your time, don't you think?"

Grub swallowed, picking himself up from the ground. "I think I'll stay here until you go to bed," he said, tottering on his feet.

Artemis gritted his teeth and forced his lips to curve upwards. He felt his chance at studying the time tunnel slipping away. "Officer. I believe that we are capable of going to bed by ourselves. You can go back to the future now." Grub gulped audibly. Artemis looked like he was about to take a chunk out of someone.

At that moment, Sana stretched and gave a yawn that seemed to split her face into two. Slumping, she caught Artemis' attention, signing her want to go to bed. Artemis nodded, getting her message, and she made her way out of the room slowly, stumbling half asleep down to her room. The last time she slept was on the shuttle going back to the Manor from Morocco, and that was a day ago. She fell on the bed, not bothering to undress, and promptly fell asleep.

Back in the study, Artemis was being mesmerised by Grub, who had just overcome his nausea and fear to remember that he, Grub, was a fairy and had magic.

"_Artemis_," he intoned, layering his voice heavily with bass tones, "_Walk to your room._" Artemis obediently turned and walked to his room. With more prompting, the boy got into his pyjamas and slid into bed. "_Go to sleep_." Artemis' eyelids drooped, and soon his breathing became deep and regular. Grub slumped to the floor, wiping his brow. Then he grinned and sauntered back to the study. As he invoked the time tunnel, Grub was already formulating all the stories he could tell his friends about how he had ordered the great Artemis Fowl around…

* * *

Artemis woke up, opening his eyes. For a moment red sparks had flashed and danced in front of his eyes, chasing each other's tails into nothingness.

_Red sparks. Unusual. I have seen stars before, but never sparks._

Artemis stretched luxuriously, grabbing his duvet. A half-smile was hanging on the corners of his mouth.

_I feel safe and happy._

The boy bolted upright, the bed creaking from the sudden movement.

_Happy? I feel happy?_

He hadn't felt this cheerful since his father's disappearance two months ago. Perhaps it was the deal with the Extinctionists… but that particular deal had left him feeling sick down to the very core of his being. So what was making him feel so optimistic? It had been a… dream. A plan…to get enough money to fund a hundred Arctic expeditions. That was it. The dream. What had it been about? Artemis tried to grasp the images fading away, tried to focus before they disappeared completely. He concentrated hard, and then his lips twitched.

_Fairies. Something about fairies._Sana woke up, opening her eyes. For a moment red sparks had flashed and danced in front of her eyes, chasing each other's tails into nothingness. She closed her eyes again.

* * *

_I feel safe. I feel happy. _

The comfort and bliss she always experienced when her mother hugged her. She had not felt this content since that fateful night more than three months ago, and the swirling pot of emotions she had felt since then had not been helped by Artemis' deal with the Extinctionists, which had left Sana sick to the very core of her being. She breathed in deeply, her hands grabbing her duvet. She could almost smell her mother's scent of sun-bleached meadows and rustling trees… Unbidden, an image from a vague dream she had experienced just before waking. Greenish brown, or brownish green, eyes stared at Sana, boring a hole into the girl's skull. There had been words… but what had they been?

_What was it? The eyes… The eyes want me to find it, but what was it?_

Sana concentrated hard. There had been something about a tree and a river. Rowan tree? Holly tree? Ash tree? Oak tree? Oak tree! Next to a river. Was it the second, or the third? The third sounds about right. She racked her brains, trying to see if it really was the third oak tree next to the river. Nothing was suggesting itself, and Sana safely assumed that it was the third oak tree next to the river. And the only place she knew with oak trees was her home.

_I need to go visit home. And I have to learn sign language soon too. It's getting tiring, writing down everything I want to say._

* * *

Butler walked slowly to the door of his young master's bedroom. Artemis' actions for the past few days had left Butler fighting against his morals and ethics. Although he was technically only a bodyguard, he felt that Artemis was the son he would never have. Selling an innocent animal had been bad enough, but selling the life of a human-like fairy? That was just… Butler grinded to a halt and knocked on Artemis' door heavily, the solid wood doors thumping dully from the impact of Butler's fist.

"Come in." Artemis' voice called from within. How his voice sounded young! Too young to be embroiling himself in the dirty cesspool of the world. Butler opened the door softly, and walked cat-footed into the room.

"Good morning, Artemis. I'm glad that you're well from your trip," Butler said stiffly. He forced the unpleasant memories of the past few days into a murky part of his brain and looked up into Artemis' deep blue eyes. Butler frowned. For an instant, he swore Artemis' eyes had turned red. He looked closely at the Irish boy. The red had disappeared. It must have been a trick of the light. Artemis looked bemusedly at his bodyguard.

"What do you mean? I got home after getting back from Morocco and have been sleeping ever since. All the trips I undertake are always with you."

Butler opened his mouth. "I mean, the trip to the – " Butler stopped. What had he been about to say? It had something to do with the girl… Girl? There had been no girl except Sana. Butler shook his head and freed his mind partially from the fog obscuring his memory.

"Anyway, all I wanted to say was that breakfast is ready, Artemis."

"Thank you, Butler. I'll come down when I'm dressed." Butler walked out of the room, shaking his head to try clear his head fully. Maybe he would go and train for a while. Training always cleared his head, and Butler doubted that training would fail him now.

* * *

Sana opened the door to the library. Breakfast had been delicious, as always, but her mind had been distracted by her decision to learn sign language. She knew Artemis was proficient, as he had learnt it while he was learning how to lip read – Artemis had always said that it was wise to learn it in order to be able to read the messages of the deaf and mute – so she knew there was a sign language dictionary in the library. Sana walked into the room, and looked up. Her mouth dropped open with astonishment. The library was huge! Just like the one in Beauty and the Beast, when the Beast took Belle to his library after the wolf attack. Sana never knew libraries like that existed! The last time she went to the library was when she was… three? She remembered trying to find Artemis for something or other, and then Angeline had taken her to the library, and a vague impression of vast spaces, but that was it. No wonder her mother had told her to come here! Rowan had always urged her daughter to the library, but Sana had always preferred climbing the numerous trees growing in the Fowl grounds. The memory of her mother reminded the girl of why she came in here in the first place. Hurrying to a computer sitting on a small desk next to the window, Sana opened up the database where all the contents of the library were stored and began to search for the dictionary.

Two hours later, Sana was still looking for the dictionary. Even though the database had told her where the book was in the library in a few minutes, the shelves were so big, the books so many, that she still hadn't found the stupid book yet. Sana began to make promises to herself.

_One more shelf, or I'm giving up! It'll be after that book. No? Fine, after that white one. Maybe not. But it's definitely after that red-and-gold one._

She crawled along the entire length of the bottom shelf, looking for the dictionary. She was about to give up – there were only two books left – until a thick blue book caught her attention on the next bookcase. She stood up, wincing at the protest her stiff knees were yelling, and hobbled over to the book. A large title adorned its spine: Dictionary of Sign Language.

_What? But the computer said that shelf! Which stupid person put the stupid dictionary away in the wrong place??!!_

Sana scowled, grabbing the dictionary off the shelf, and then made her way back down the stairs onto the bottom floor and out of the library, hugging the tome to her body. She slowly made her way down the corridor and into her room, throwing the volume onto her bed. It landed with a thump. Sana flopped onto the bed next to it. She eyed the brick lying next to her with distaste. She knew there were a lot of signs, but to fill up a book _that _big? Sana sighed. She had decided to do this, and her mother had always told her to face the consequences. The girl sighed again. It looked like there'll be a lot of sleepless nights in her future.

* * *

**Please keep supporting this story and review! The next chapter will be awesome and long and everything fabulous. **

**I'm just making up excuses for this crap chapter, aren't I? **


	16. The Truth about Sana

**Just thought you'd like to know: **

**All talking in sign language are indicated by double dashes -- blahblah.-- For example, read and review in sign language would be --read and review.-- So yeah. Don't get confused, people!**

* * *

Artemis woke up. He sat up groggily and rubbed his eyes. It had been two weeks since the transaction between him and the Extinctionists had been finalised, and thinking about it still made him slightly queasy. Artemis had also felt slightly jet-lagged since the adventure in Morocco, but ample time had passed for him to recover from the time differences. Maybe he was more traumatised by his actions than he thought.

A knock intruded through the haze of speculation. "Good morning, Artemis," Butler said, his voice sounding more gravelly through the boy's fatigue, "It's time to get ready for school."

Artemis frowned. "There is absolutely no point for me to go to school. They can teach me nothing."

"There are only five more days until the summer holidays." Butler's mouth curved the merest fraction upwards. Only people who knew him well would have even noticed the slight change in his facial expression.

"Five more days of my life wasted in a useless institute. I could be using that time for more productive pursuits." _Like researching the fantastical subject of fairies_, Artemis added silently. Then Artemis sighed. "But I can't help that I'm more intelligent than the rest of the Irish population, who all believe that children must attend school for most of their childhood and adolescence." The ten-year-old climbed out of bed, padding over to his wardrobe.

Butler turned to leave. "Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes." Artemis nodded, and began to undress.

Butler pulled the door close behind him. He walked briskly to Sana's bedroom door. Ever since Artemis Fowl Snr had disappeared, it had fallen on to Butler to become cook, then manservant, gardener and butler as the various servants in the Fowl household were dismissed one by one. Butler, when he was first employed by the Fowls for their newborn son, had never thought that one day he would become the bodyguard and manservant for _two_ children.

Butler knocked on Sana's door. A few seconds later, three thumps issued from the room, and Butler opened the door. The girl was still half asleep, which was strange, considering her habit of jogging around the manor before breakfast. "Good morning, Sana. It's time for school."

Sana nodded sleepily. "Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes." She nodded again and dragged herself out of bed, stumbling into the ensuite bathroom. Butler twitched his lips again, and went downstairs to prepare breakfast.

Artemis slid into his seat, dressed in his navy uniform. Butler placed a plate in front of the boy, and Artemis began to eat. A few minutes later, Sana emerged, yawning widely as she plopped into her chair. Butler slid a plate in front of her. Sana made a vague shape with her hands. Artemis noticed her gesture.

"Sana, if you were trying to sign your thanks to Butler, that didn't even look like sign." Sana shot a glare at her brother.

Artemis, undeterred, continued his lecture. "The sign looks like this," Artemis paused to demonstrate, "and your sign looked more like the sign for 'hate' rather than thanks. It's important to give accurate signs, as the wrong sign could make your recipient confused, who, because of misinterpretation, would – " Artemis broke off, finally noticing that no one was actually listening to his comments. He scowled, finished his breakfast, and then went upstairs to prepare for school.

* * *

The end of term finally came, and Artemis (predictably) came first in the year, with an average of a hundred. As he was presented with an award for his perfect scores during the year, as the whole school clapped dutifully under the watchful eye of the teachers, as he shook the principle's hand, Artemis' thoughts drifted to his grief-stricken mother lying in her bed back home, to his father lying somewhere in the Arctic, and wished with all his heart that they were here, in this hall, watching their son get an award in front of the school.

* * *

Angeline woke up groggily. Where was she? What was this dark room, with its creeping shadows and menacing shapes?

A blond girl with glittering eyelashes knocked on the door and stepped softly into the room. "Mrs. Fowl? It's time for lunch."

Angeline turned her head towards the figure. "Thank you for telling me, but I'm not hungry."

"But you didn't eat breakfast either," Juliet reminded her, thinking of Artemis' command for her to look after his mother properly. "Do you want to eat a piece of toast?"

Angeline shook her head. Juliet frowned. "Do you want me to do anything for you?" Angeline started to shake her head, but then remembered something.

"I'd like to move up to the attic. This room feels empty with only one person."

"Okay, Mrs. Fowl. I'll start moving your things up there for you. Are you sure you don't want a piece of toast?"

"If you insist," Angeline smiled wanly.

"I'll go get it now, and after you finish your toast I'll start moving you stuff, okay?" Angeline nodded and closed her eyes. Everything tired her out nowadays, even having a simple conversation made her exhausted. Two fat tears threatened to escape from under her lashes. _Timmy, where are you?_ Angeline cried silently. _I need you. Come back to me…_

* * *

"Miss, hurry up! Dismiss us already!"

"Anne, you know I can't do that. Wait for the bell. A few extra minutes won't hurt you."

"Yeah it will! I can smell the beaches of the Bahamas already…" Anne closed her eyes theatrically, hands clasped to her chest. The class laughed.

"I'm going to Japan for their summer festivals. You want to come, Jenny?"

"Sorry, Belinda, I can't. I'm going skiing in New Zealand."

Sana listened to her classmates' chatter about their holiday plans, their excited babble enveloping her, combining with the summery smell wafting into the classroom and the warmth of the sun into an intoxicating mix. She closed her eyes, her lips curving into a rare smile.

"Hey, Sana." _Is someone calling my name?_ "SANA!" Sana jerked awake to look into her friend Karina's mirth-filled eyes. The class laughed.

"Did you hear what I said?" Sana shook her head. Putting on an overly patient air, Karina enunciated slowly, "I asked whether you have any plans for the holidays." Sana shook her head once again.

- -I am staying at home for some rest.- - Sana signed carefully. Her friends, who were learning the language with Sana, slowly translated back into English, frowning in concentration. Karina, the most adept at sign language, understood it first. She gave Sana a hug, trying to communicate through that hug the friendship and support that she felt for Sana.

At that moment, the highly anticipated bell rang, echoing through the school. Anne, with a loud cheer, ran out of the classroom, shouting her goodbye over her shoulder. The rest of the class laughed at Anne's eagerness to leave and began to depart in a more orderly fashion.

"Bye, Miss."

"See you later, Miss."

"Have a nice holiday, Miss."

- -Bye, Miss. See you next time.- -

The teacher, who knew the basic signs, smiled. "Bye, Sana. Have a nice holiday."

Surrounded by her group of chattering friends, Sana walked out of the school, where Butler and a slightly irritated Artemis were waiting for her. She was about to get into the car when –

"Hey, Sana!" Belinda's voice called her back. Sana turned around to see her friends lined up in a line. "Okay, everybody. On the count of three." Belinda said to the line. "One…Two…Three!" One by one, they began to make a life-sized sign each, contorting their bodies to form the symbol.

- -Have- - - -A- - - -Good- - - -Holiday- -

Sana looked at them, a huge grin splitting her face in half. The people on the ground looked up from their positions, twisting their heads to look at her reaction.

Karina laughed. "Look, everybody, she's smiling!" She untwined herself, the others following her example. She rubbed her back, grinning ruefully. "Good thing we all do dance here or my back would've snapped!"

The others laughed, shaking their limbs out. Sana gave each person a hug, until they were just one big hug. A loud voice interrupted them.

"Are you done yet, Sana? Or do I have to wait longer until you and your group of friends decide to stop hugging?" Artemis had gotten out of the car, his arms crossed in annoyance. Someone gasped behind her.

"He's so cute!" An audible whisper reached Sana's ears, and by the looks of Artemis' slowly reddening face, he had heard it too. Unless it was sunburn again.

- -I am coming, so be patient.- - Sana signed. Her face was bland, but her hands signed the volumes of humour that Sana was trying so hard to hide.

Artemis got back into the car, and Sana joined him a moment later. Butler, amused at Artemis' first encounter with girls other than Sana, drove off. Sana leant back into the seat. There were two months of glorious summer stretched in front of her, and she intended to enjoy it to the full. Maybe she could drag Artemis out of the manor a few times for him to actually meet natural stuff that was not dissected and put under a microscope.

* * *

It is night-time. I run along a road. My feet pound frantically, rhythmically, along the hard, tar covered surface. My feet hurt. I look down at them, and they are dressed in my ballet slippers, the ribbons tied comically up to my knees. The hard road hurts my feet. I can't run properly in these shoes. I'm wearing a tutu too. And not just a tutu, but the costume for the fairy queen. The ribbons trail behind me, fluttering around my legs. They look good when I'm dancing, but I'm going to trip over wearing this thing. I want to stop and take it off, but I can't stop. I only know that if I stop, something terrible is going to happen.

_The breeze begins to blow from behind me, and suddenly flames spring up from all around me. They just burn, without any wood or oil to burn off. I don't know why, but I have to run faster than the flames. I have to. I begin to sprint, ignoring the pain in my feet. My feet get more and more tired. My breath gets more and more ragged, but no matter what I do, the flames are always ahead of me. I can feel the fire closing in behind me, blocking my escape path. Now I can only run forwards._

_The heat is unbearable, oppressive, overwhelming. The breeze, instead of cooling me down, only brings more heat from the flames behind me. The breeze turns into a wind, and suddenly, the fire leaps forward in front of me, flying along the ground at an alarming rate. I have no hope of getting in front of it, but I can't fail. I have to beat it. I must beat it. I try to run faster, but now my legs seem to be made of lead. I can't move. I stretch out my hand in front of me and try futilely to stop the fire's progress, but it ignores my plea and continues to forge ahead. I can feel the heat from the flames licking at my heels, but it never burns me, only heating my feet enough so that I run faster._

_My lungs are on fire from the smoke I've been breathing in. My heart is on fire from all the sprinting I've been doing. My feet are on fire from the running I've had to do in my ballet slippers, which are wearing thin. They feel like they are about to break. My legs are on fire from the leaden weights of my feet. But I still can't beat the fire. It still burns in front of me. A shape, which had been a smudge in the distance a while ago, now begins to grow in front of me at an alarming rate. It looks familiar. I run closer, and then suddenly I can see it clearly through the smoke and heat waves. It's my home! Over the crackling of the fire, I can hear my mum's singing, my dad's whistling, and their laughter, louder than the rest. Those sounds reach my ears, entering my body, my soul, my very being. Then the fire begins to burn even faster and the two trails of fire start to blaze up, until they are two tall towering infernos. The vague shape of my home is still discernible through the flames and the smoke, but barely. _

_As if a light bulb had lit up in my mind, I realise what the fire had been aiming at my home all along. I had to run faster, to dash through the door, to get my parents out of there, to somehow, in some miraculous way, to tell them to get out. I want to scream, to get them to hear me, but my voice doesn't work. I can't speak! My voice is locked! I lock my discomfort and pain away and try to run faster. I look down at the ground, only focusing on putting one foot in front of another. I enter the small space between the two lanes of fire. The roaring of the fire increases, drowning out the sounds of my parents, the heat grows until it feels like I'm going to dry up or just burst into flame. And then I'm out. I'll make it to my home! But then the wind gives an almighty blow, so that the fire leaps over my head and lands on my home. _

_My mum's humming and my dad's whistling turn grotesquely into screams, mixing horrifyingly with the laughter that doesn't fade. The sounds merge into one static blob of sound, like the whiney and screechy sounds that come out of microphones when they go funny. I clap my hands over my ears, trying to block out the sound, but it permeates through the thin barrier of my hands, getting louder and louder until all I can hear is the static, thrumming through my body like some kind of twisted music._

_Then the sound stops. I stop running. In front of me is a smouldering ruin, black and menacing. The flames start to flicker and recede. Something rolls out of the fire and stops at my feet, glinting innocently. I bend down and pick it up, singed ribbons flying. It is a plain gold ring, and on the inside is inscribed: 'Rowan, I love you. Adam.' Then the ruin that was my home disappears, the fire disappears, the ring disappears, and I stand, on a road in the middle of the night. Then someone or something speaks._

"_Sana, go to the third oak tree by the river behind your house." A pair of hazel eyes appear in the sky, blocking out everything until all I can see are the eyes._

"_Go to the third oak tree by the river behind your house."_

Sana woke up, bolting upright. Sweat dripped from her, mingling with her tears, soaking the sheets that were wrapped tightly around her. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for her pulse to calm down. After what seemed like an eternity, her heartbeat returned to normal, and Sana opened her eyes. From the faint light filtering through the curtains, it was still in the middle of the night. The familiar contours of her room began to take shape, forming from meaningless, menacing lumps of shadows into regularly shaped objects.

Sana flopped back on to the bed, kicking the thin sheet covering her off. The thin, acrid odour of smoke still seemed to linger in the room, although the girl knew that it was a figment of her imagination, and it still seemed to be unnaturally hot in the large, spacious room. Sana, lying on her back, watched her room grow lighter and lighter as dawn approached. She heard the birds outside begin the first faltering notes of the dawn chorus, the initial warbling notes slowly swelling until it became a loud, chaotic racket of birdcalls. She wondered sleepily how she slept through all that noise every morning. Finally, as the sun burst over the horizon into glorious day, Sana felt her eyelids grow heavy, and she dropped into a deep sleep, undisturbed by any dreams.

* * *

Excited at the prospect of having two months of no school, Sana was positively bouncing with delight as she made her way down to the table for breakfast. However, once she realised that she felt happy, a tinge of guilt entered her mind. She shouldn't feel happy, right? What would her parents think? It had been two months since their deaths, and she still felt their loss keenly, but if she was feeling happy about something, not just amused at something, what would they think? Did that mean that she was beginning to forget them? She couldn't let that happen. The thought of forgetting Adam and Rowan frightened her.

Artemis, always earlier at the table during school terms – and the first day of the holidays – than her, noticed Sana's subdued expression.

"What's wrong? You were jumping ecstatically with your friends yesterday, so what happened to you and your 'It's the summer holidays!' vibe?" Artemis asked, sweeping scrambled eggs onto his toast.

Sana looked up and gave him a thumb up. - -I'm fine. Thank you for asking. - - Artemis noticed the care she took to sign 'thank you' properly. _Maybe she does listen to me. She probably acts like she doesn't just to annoy me,_ thought Artemis, mollified by his sister's actions.

The gentle clinking of cutlery filled the room. Sana, after sipping some of her juice, noticed the absence of Angeline.

- -Where is Angeline?- -

"She's still sleeping," said Artemis brusquely. He did not know what to do with his mother. On one hand he wanted to help her get over the disappearance of his father by analysing her psychological state and then treating her accordingly, on the other, he just wanted to shake some sense into her and lock her in the room, where she couldn't be harmful to anyone except herself.

Sana, noticing the Irish boy's distress, decided not to continue the subject. Artemis, wiping his mouth on his napkin, noticed for the first time the shadows under Sana's eyes.

"Sana, have you been sleeping?"

Sana looked up, startled. - -Yes. Why?- -

"You looked tired, that's all."

- -Do not worry about me. I am fine.- - The last thing Sana wanted was Artemis to start pestering her to let him analyse her for his next research project.

"Sure. Anyhow, don't disturb me from now on. I'm working on a very important project that could restore the fortunes of the Fowl family." Artemis stood and walked away from the table. Sana and Butler looked at each other.

"Do you know what he's talking about, Sana?" Sana shook her head. Butler nodded thoughtfully. "It's probably some sort of scheme to get more money. He'll tell me soon enough." With that, Butler began to clear the table, carrying Artemis' dishes to the kitchen. A moment later, he walked out again.

"Sana, are you done?"

As a response, she wiped her mouth on her napkin and stood up. Butler stacked her plates into a pile and carried them into the kitchen, where they joined Artemis' plates.

"Sana, come back." Butler called from the kitchen, preparing to stack the plates into the dishwasher.

Sana walked over to where the bodyguard was and leant on the door.

"Sana, wherever you go, don't go out of the boundaries of our estates. If you want to go somewhere else, you will have to take me and Artemis with you, okay? I have been charged with your safety as well as Master Artemis', and so until you get a bodyguard of your own I will have to follow you everywhere. Is that clear?"

Sana nodded, slightly amazed at the length of Butler's speech. It was the longest speech she had ever heard him utter, even when he was trying to persuade Artemis out of proceeding with one of Artemis' many schemes.

"Before you leave, do you want to take lunch with you?"

- -Yes, please.- -

Butler quickly assembled a sandwich, stuffing a bread roll with fresh lettuce, olives, smoked salmon, egg, and onion, drizzled over with extra virgin olive oil, and wrapped it in a piece of waxed paper and proceeded to place it into a small shoulder cooler bag. He handed the bag to Sana, who then slung it over one shoulder.

- -I will go now. I am not leaving here, so it should be fine.- -

Butler nodded. "See you later. Keep the cooler bag out of the sun," he said, turning around to clean up the kitchen. Soon after, the soft booming sound of the front door opening and closing could be heard reverberating down the corridor.

Sana strolled out the door, feeling her spirits lift as she stepped into the sunlight. The morning, although hot, was not humid and sticky, and the sky was an arch of pure cobalt. A breeze blew gently across the ground, cooling down Sana's hot skin. _At least it's not hot,_ she thought, shivering, reminded of the nightmare earlier. Sana began to walk down the side of the Manor, shaded by giant trees, which marginally cooled the air down of what was potentially a boiling hot day. Any emotions that remained from the nightmare were inevitably swept away by the peace and happiness that Sana felt by spending time with Nature.

Almost unconsciously, her feet directed Sana towards her favourite haunt: the giant, strong boughs of the maple tree that grew next to the river that winded through Sana's home to enter the Fowl estates. She began to climb the tree, hands and feet gripping the smooth limbs strongly until she reached the centre of the branches. The manner in which the tree grew always invoked in Sana's imagination visions of giants bending the branches to suit their tastes. A few boughs branched near the bottom of the tree, but most of the branches met near the middle of the tree trunk, forming a large, solid join where Sana could lay down comfortably and not risk falling out of the tree. She reached the junction, as strong and as secure as a castle. Lying down on her back, she gazed through the thick branches to the patches of blue sky visible through the multitudes of leaves that shifted and spun in the wind, throwing their dappled shadows over the girl. The leaves kept shifting. Sana's weary eyes began to droop, and soon, she was sleeping, safe in the branches of the maple tree.

_Whispers, issued so softly I couldn't hear them clearly, filled the air. I'm running again, dressed once more in the costume of the fairy queen. This time, regardless of the pain later on, I pound my feet desperately against the bitumen, in a bid to get home before the flames spring up, but to no avail. No matter how fast or how long I run, my home just won't appear._

_I start to tire, but the flames still don't appear. The whispers are beginning to clear, and it's now possible to distinguish that the whispers is in fact one whisper, said over and over again until the air is saturated with the same message._

_Suddenly, the fire appears, and with it, the smudge that I know with certainty is my home. I begin to race, trying to believe that, this time, I will prevail and warn my parents in time. But the fire won't, or can't, let me win. It still leaps before me, the crackling of the fire almost, but not quite, drowning the whisper, slowly but steadily increasing its volume. The breeze begins to blow, and I'm drowning once more in a sea of heat and smoke._

_This time round my home has approached faster, and it quickly becomes discernible. Once more the flames roar into fiery pillars, and once more I futilely try to conquer the situation and save my parents. This time, their singing and laughter is joined by a monkey's chatter: the playful chattering of little Jayjay. I want to save all three, but I know it's useless to try. The fire will win, but I try to outrun it anyway. The fire begins to roar forwards; the wind has begun to huff and puff to burn my house down._

_The screams begin. The whisper is now audible, and it mixes and churns with the screams, now with Jayjay's desperate screeches added. I collapse to the ground. I squeeze my eyes shut, cover my ears to try and block out the sound, but it is everywhere. I can't hide from the sound, and I can't hide from the stench emanating from the burning structure in front of me._

_The sounds stop. The heat gradually fades away. The ground still retains some of its heat, but it slowly begins to leech away. The breeze drops away. Nothing stirs. The only thing I'm aware of is the whisper, only it's not a whisper anymore. The voice is speaking again, repeating the same thing over and over again. Even though my eyes are closed, the hazel orbs are still visible. I drown for the second time, only this time I'm drowning in a hazel gaze._

_The voice says, "Go to the third oak tree by the river behind your house."_

_The voice whispers. "Go to the third oak tree by the river behind your house."_

_The voice breathes, "Go to the third oak tree by the river behind your house."_

_Then the voice is no more._

Sana woke slowly, the shock not as great this time, tears pouring from her eyes into her hair. Dreaming her parents' deaths was still as painful as the day she saw her home burn down, knowing that she would never see them again, never to hear them, hear their laughter, smell her mum's fragrance, feel her dad's rough hand enveloping her own again. And Jayjay's death… The fate Artemis had subjected him to was awful enough, to be sold to Extinctionists to be killed, but to hear him die with her parents, to hear him burning to death, was even worse. And what was with the voice? Both times, the voice, to the point that Sana suspected that the owner of the voice had instigated the fire, had urged her to go to the third oak tree by the river behind her house, but what was the purpose to actually visiting that particular tree? She wasn't even sure she could distinguish an oak tree from other trees, except maybe pines and maples, and the only reason why she could tell between those trees were because pine trees had needles instead of leaves, and maples had leaves that looked like stars. When she had come back from Morocco, and had woken up, Sana remembered that someone had said the exact same thing as the voice in the dream, but she had quickly dismissed it as a random sentence that had come from someone in a dream. But now that she had had two dreams, nearly identical to one another, and both carrying the same message, maybe the message was important.

As her mind began to dwell on the mystery of the voice, Sana's emotions quietened, until she stopped crying. Soon, she had stopped thinking about the voice and began to listen to the birds chirp to each other in the trees.

"Look! Worm."

"Where? Where?"

"There. Over near the bank."

"Mine!"

"Mine!"

"No, mine!"

"Why?"

"I found it."

"So? Mine!"

"No, mine!"

Sana smiled quietly to herself, amused by the birds' frivolous conversation. The smile grew broader as she realised the implications of understanding what birds were saying to each other. _My imagination's going haywire! I'm even imagining what birds say to each other?_ _I wish I could understand birds though…_

Sana did not know how much time she had spent lying in the reassuring comfort of the branches of the maple tree, but when her stomach began to growl, reminding the girl to eat her roll, the sun had passed its zenith, and was preparing to set for the day. She took the roll out of the bag, unwrapping it of the paper, and took a big bite. The roll was so big it nearly did not fit into Sana's mouth, and from the looks of the food Butler had placed into the roll, he had tried to squish the contents of a salad into the roll. Not that Sana minded, even though the taste of olives and smoked salmon was a bit peculiar, but not unpleasant. She leaned against a branch, slowly demolishing the roll with unhurried efficiency. Around her, the birds were chirping once again.

"Look, a human's eating something."

"Do you think it'll drop crumbs?"

"The crumbs are mine."

"No, mine!"

"Mine!"

Sana smiled and, ripping some of the bread off, crumbled the bread and let the morsels fall to the ground. Immediately, three or four birds flew from the tree down to the crumbs, quickly freeing the ground of the pieces of bread. After that, once in a while, Sana would crumble some more bread, and the birds, who had stayed hopefully on the ground just in case 'it did drop crumbs', would polish the titbits off. In time, the roll was finished. Sana stood and brushed the crumbs off her clothes, and, looking down on the birds, she could still see their unabashedly hopeful faces.

- -I have finished my food. I do not have anymore,- - she signed down to them, not expecting them to understand what she was saying, but feeling an obligation to tell the little birds that no more food would be dropping down. To her surprise, the birds had flown off. She could hear them, chirping in the trees.

"It just said that no more food would be coming."

"Really?"

"Yes. It didn't make any sounds, but you could sense its meaning anyway."

"I couldn't."

"If you payed more attention to your surroundings, Zazu, you would be able to."

_I could write a book about my imagined conversations between birds,_ thought Sana. A leaf drifted past. The sun began to approach the horizon, the late afternoon rays turning the leaves golden, and her mind floated back to the mystery of the voice. For it to have appeared in both dreams… it must be a pretty important message that someone had imprinted into her brain. But who would do that? Who did she know had hazel eyes, apart from herself? But she'd know if she was telling herself to find a random tree in her estates, so it had to be someone else. Suddenly a thought struck Sana. What if it was a trap for someone to lure her out and then kidnap or murder her? Sana shivered, smiling nervously. She must be watching too many television dramas to even think of a reason like that. It wouldn't hurt to go find that tree, right? She'd go tomorrow to visit that tree with Butler and Artemis. If she was with Butler, she would definitely be safe, even if there were fifty-million assassins waiting for her to come out, because no one, absolutely no one, ever messed with Butler.

The sun was beginning to set when Sana decided to head back to the manor. Slowly climbing out of the tree, cooler bag swinging precariously, Sana clambered back down to the ground and began to amble back. The sky, lit with the rays of the setting sun, had turned into a whirl of glorious colour. Sana stopped her walking to watch as the last rays of the sun winked out, followed by the first stars of the night lighting up the sky. The half-moon began to light up the Earth with its soft silvery light, giving everything a white, frosty glow. Sana raised her arms and breathed in deeply, filling her lungs with the cool, clean air of the night. Slowly, stepping out with one foot, Sana began to dance.

The next day, after asking Butler for permission to visit her estates on the pretence of seeing the conditions of the land and whether the tenants were looking after it properly, and after dragging Artemis away from his studies (what was that boy doing?! He'd been trapped in the study for ages! Was he starting yet another research project?), Sana walked, accompanied by Butler and a disgruntled Artemis, over to her estates. A small house had been built where her home had once stood, and inside it lived a man who had rented the land for tax purposes and now lived on it every now and again. Sana did not really understand how tax worked, or how renting her land could help tax, but Artemis was managing her finances, so she did not really care what the man did, as long her land was still kept thriving and healthy.

The door was closed, and, ignoring Artemis' muttering under his breath about how the man was probably not there and they were wasting their time, Sana walked up to the house and knocked firmly on the door. Butler stood behind her, ready to spring into action at any time. After a few moments the door opened, and a thirty-something year old man stood in front of them, blinking at his visitors.

- -Hello. I am your landlord, Sana, and I would like to walk around my estates. I will not bother you, and I will do this every so often.- -

The man, Artemis had told Sana last night, was called Ryan, and he stared at Sana's hands uncomprehendingly. Sana had told Artemis to translate for her, but he was looking around, pointedly ignoring his adoptive sister. Enraged, Sana stamped on Artemis' foot. Although he was trying to hide his pain, Artemis could not hide the tears of pain that had sprung up in his eyes. Eyes watering, Artemis began to translate.

"Hello. I am your landlord, Sana, and I would like to walk around my estates. I will not bother you, and I will do this every so often."

Ryan stared down at the small girl standing in front of him. When he had signed the contract, some official had been there to overlook and legalise the contract. He had known his landlord was young, but this girl? This was his landlord? A girl barely out of nappies was his landlord?

"How can you prove that you're my landlord?" Ryan asked antagonistically. He would not, cannot, believe that a mere _girl_ was in charge of his land.

Sana raised her eyebrows and took out a folder from a bag, looking through it to pull out a sheet of paper. - -This is my copy of the contract. The signature, I can prove is mine.- - While Artemis dutifully translated her signs into English, Sana carefully signed her signature on another piece of paper. She held it up for the man to see.

- -How about now? Compare the two signatures all you like, but you will find that they are the same.- -

After long minutes, Ryan thrusted the papers back at Sana. "It does seem to be you," he said disdainfully. "Well, you're welcome to walk around all you like."

Sana flashed him a smile and walked away. Artemis gave Ryan a long, piercing look. "I know what game you're playing, and I can tell you now that you will lose."

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked uncomfortably. The boy spoke with authority, with power, and that disconcerted Ryan.

"Don't play dumb. I know that you will lose because I'm the one managing her property. And no one ever loses to Artemis Fowl." With that, Artemis turned his back firmly on Ryan and followed Sana, who was waiting impatiently several metres away. Butler followed, keeping one eye on each child, leaving Ryan confused and frustrated behind them.

Slowly, Sana winded her way through her estate, memories leaping out at her with every new location. This was where she had lost her front tooth when she had crashed into that tree over there while learning how to ride a bike, and this was where her mother and father used to sit together for hours on end, just enjoying each other's company. With each memory, Sana's grief became stronger, until she thought her grief would burst out of her like a balloon bursting from too much air.

The party of three finally reached the river bank, and Sana, assuming that the trees were all oaks and that the counting started from the right, began to count trees. She got to the third tree, but, to reassure herself, she counted the trees from the left. One… Two… Three…. It was still this tree, so it must be correct. Sana began to circle around it, looking for any clues that would lead her to whatever it was the owner of the eyes wanted her to find. There were no weird scratches on the bark, no unnatural markings, no nothing. Sana circled the tree for the third time.

Butler, standing at a respectful distance away, looked bemusedly at Sana's odd actions. That had to be the fifth time she had circled that tree, peering intently at its bark, both above and below her. What was she looking for? Was this why Sana had suddenly just asked them to come with her to her estates?

Next to him, Artemis was not even aware of what was happening around him. Where could he find evidence that the fairies existed? They existed in every fairytale or legend from practically all the different cultures of the world, but he needed to find a link, a shred of evidence, to give him a strong argument that could convince Butler. Maybe he needed to trawl through the Internet again. Artemis scowled. Whenever he needed to research or determine something, Sana had always pulled him away from his work! Last time this happened, she had made him help paint her room, leaving him covered in paint and unable to define his Artemisanium. This time, he was on the verge of discovering an entirely different species, and she had dragged him, once again, to visit her estates!

Sana, unenlightened to Artemis' annoyance, began to climb the tree, taking time to examine every branch carefully in order not to miss anything. Still nothing. She climbed back down again and crouched down, crawling around the roots of the tree. Just as she was about to give up, she saw a small, inconspicuous, arrow on one of the roots pointing down into the ground. Yes! She had found it!

Excitedly, she stood up and walked over to her bag, where she had put a small spade. Walking quickly back to where the arrow was, she began to dig. After a while, instead of slicing through soft earth, her spade hit something hard and very solid. She enlarged the hole and saw a bit of silvery metal emerging from the hole. After working on it, the hole became large and deep enough to pull the metal object out, revealing a time capsule the size of a tissue box. She wiped the dirt off the capsule on her top, put the capsule and the spade into her bag and patted the earth back into the ground. Standing up, she walked back towards Butler and Artemis, the latter looking rather relieved.

- -We can go back now.- -

"What? Aren't you going to walk around the rest of the land?" Artemis asked, feeling an obligation to remind Sana of her smokescreen task.

- -Do you want me to?- - Sana asked, shooting the boy a look.

He quickly shook his head. "It's alright. Let's head back now, shall we?" Without further ado, Artemis turned and led the group back to the manor.

After dinner and a shower that night, Sana sat cross-legged on her bed, staring at the smooth, mirror-like surface of the time capsule. The capsule was almost perfect, except for a small crack in the middle, splitting the capsule into two halves. After some more staring, Sana took the capsule and began to try and unscrew the capsule, holding the bottom end of the tube firmly. However, the slick surface of the capsule did not allow any grip, and Sana felt her hand slide around the side of the tube every time she tried to turn the top half of the tube. In the end, Sana had to sneak into Artemis' lab and steal a pair of latex gloves for her to grip the smooth metal firmly, and finally the two halves of the capsule slid open, spilling its contents over the bed.

Sana looked at the things that had spilled onto her bed with a growing sense of disappointment. This was all the capsule held? A small CD, held securely with foam, and a jewellery box, also cushioned by foam? She suppressed her disappointment and went to her computer, which she had taken from the study when Artemis had announced that he was not to be disturbed while he was in the study. Switching the computer on, she waited several minutes before logging on and inserting the CD into the disk slot.

A lot of files were on the disk, but only one of them was named 'Sana'. Feeling her excitement return, she double clicked on the file. The file opened, revealing it to be a moving clip. Her mother was sitting at the desk where she usually worked, and the suit in which she was dressed in showed that she had either just finished a meeting with a client or was preparing for a meeting with a client. Sana stared at Rowan, feeling shock, elation and grief all at the same time. To suddenly see her mother like this unexpectedly!

Rowan smiled gently and began to speak. "My dear, if you are watching this, it means that your father and I have died already, as this time capsule was to be revealed to you only if we died before your twelfth birthday." Sana barely registered Rowan's words, too busy drinking in the sight of her mother's face.

"The point of this video," Rowan continued, "Is to tell you about your heritage. Videos technically aren't in good enough quality on computers yet, but the whole reason that you can watch this is part of the truth of your heritage. I don't know how to begin," said Rowan, sighing loudly, "but I'll plunge into the deep end of the pool. You," she looked directly into the camera, "are part fairy. This is because I'm a fairy." There! There was the little quirk of her mouth whenever she was explaining something to Sana. Something Rowan said tweaked at Sana's mind, but she dismissed it, trying to catch more of her mother's mannerisms.

"I was born about a hundred and fifty years ago, and converting that to human ages, I'd be around thirty-something. To tell you the truth, fairies hate humans." A wry smile twisted Rowan's mouth. Sana had almost forgotten that smile. "We think that they are all selfish pigs who are more intent on getting money than to care about the people around them and their surroundings and nature. And it is absolutely right. But your father was different. Even though he was an architect, his buildings were all designed so that they were environmentally friendly. He was kind, considerate, gentle, but with an iron will and a wicked sense of humour

Sana saw her mother's expression soften into the smile specially reserved for her father. "I think that was what made him attractive to me. Your father was just so different to the people around him, and sometimes I could even see his aura stretching out of him to help those around him and to help the environment survive.

"But, as I've told you, fairies hate humans, so when I decided to become human and try to gain the love of the love of my life, I was kicked out and shunned by the members of my family, my people. I became an outcast. Fairy technology is much more advanced than human technology, which is why you can even see this, and also the reason of how I could become human. It's still a developing technology, but fairy surgeons can transform fairies by putting hormone glands of the specified animal, including human. There was no going back, so I took the operation to become human, and set about winning the heart of Adam. Thankfully, I did, and now we've got you for a beautiful daughter, Sana.

"To protect him, your dad doesn't know about this. But I think he suspects something, or he might've guessed the truth already. When I turned human, I abandoned everything that was part of the fairy race, including my magic. From what I've seen so far these three years since your birth, you may have some magic, but I can't confirm this until you're ten or twelve, as magic tends to emerge around then.

"I'm running out of space on this disk. Before I go, I've got a few more things to say to you. Sana, your father and I love you to bits. You are the most precious thing in our lives. Sana, we have lived happy and fulfilling lives, and, even if you can't see us, we will continue to protect and look after you, even if it's only in spirit. We want to see you live a happy life, okay?" The screen began to blur in front of Sana's eyes. Impatiently, she dashed away her tears as so not to miss even one second of her mother's video.

"Another thing, Sana, when I accidentally came across one of my ex-fairy friends, she actually talked to me and we've been meeting up ever since. She's the one who's been providing me with all this fairy technology, and she was the one who told me that I have a sister, born ten years after I had been banished. If you need any magical help or anything, there's a file on this CD somewhere that should tell you how to find her. Her name's Holly Short, and apparently she's now a police officer. That's all. We love you, Sana."

Suddenly Adam's face appeared in the camera. Sana had forgotten just how brilliant her father's smile was. "Are you making a CD for Sana? Why didn't you tell me?" Adam looked into the camera, directly into the eyes of his daughter.

"Hey, Sana! I love you!" The video clip ended, the last frame of the video frozen on the laughing faces of her parents.

Sana stared at their faces until she realised that her face was cold. She touched her cheeks, startled to find that they were wet, and wiped her face dry of her tears. Sana reached for the jewellery box, still sitting innocently in its foam surroundings, oblivious to the emotional turmoil of the girl picking it up. Carefully untying the ribbon, she lifted the lid and saw a simple, circular locket with a fine, white-gold chain. She opened the locket. On one side, a picture of the three of them had been slid into place, Sana looking very dazed and small, and on the other a picture of a girl with fairy-like wings soared above a miniscule inscription. To read it, one would need a magnifying glass, but Sana already knew what it said: 'We, with the grace of God, will be the wings that will carry you through life'. It had been one of her father's favourite sayings. Sana, tears carving tracks down her newly-dried cheeks, fastened the chain around her neck, hands trembling so much that fastening the silver chain properly merited an Olympic medal. The locket nestling just above her breastbone, Sana reached one trembling finger and touched her locket delicately, then, as she began to shake, held the locket fast in a tight fist. Sana, ever since that gut-wretching night of the fire, cried for the loss of her parents who never deserved their deaths, and for the relief that she at last had something to remember them by.

Finally, Sana's sobs subsided, and she looked back at the computer, still frozen on her parents' faces. _Mum had been saying something, _Sana thought. _Maybe I should go see that video again and actually listen to what she was saying._ With that thought in mind, Sana sat back down in front of the computer, and clicked 'Play'.


	17. Interlude: Holly Short

**Hi, people!**

**Long time no see (or read, in this case). Sorry! You can now all go and flame me because of my laziness. =P**

**Without further ado, please welcome Captain Holly Short of the LEP on board to this story!**

* * *

Holly Short, LEPrecon officer, opened her eyes, feeling calm and at peace with the world. Then the memory of the incidents of the past two weeks flooded her mind and, her peace shattered, turned and buried her face into her blanket.

_That stupid perp of mine's going to pay!_ Holly thought angrily. The mission in Hamburg was going well, all was under control, but then the perp just _had_ to freak and seek asylum with the Mud people! Now, instead being congratulated on a successful mission with hints of more missions in the future, Holly had to deal with an investigation by Internal Affairs, tunnel duty until the investigation was over and until she was cleared AND her record will be tarnished forever, which meant that any missions that came through would be passed to someone else.

Holly wallowed a little in self-pity before stumbling into the shower. Nothing could beat a hot shower when she needed to relax and calm down. And she would definitely need peace to face yet another day filled with officials asking her the same questions and eight hours of monitoring an empty tunnel in some forsaken part under the Earth. Or maybe she'd get lucky and Root will switch her to Traffic. It was infinitely more preferable to listen to insults than staring into a dusty tunnel. But whatever she did, Holly vowed to do perfectly. She would not let the stupid members in Internal Affairs have any reason to kick her off the team.

* * *

Holly sat in the Cham pod, monitoring the scans coming from sensors in the tunnel. She glanced at the clock. _Yes! Two more minutes before I can go home,_ Holly thought, wishing that something, anything, would happen to break up the monotony.

Almost immediately after the thought formed in her head, a summons from Root came through. Well, technically it was not a summons, but Root always makes his notes sound like one.

_Captain Holly Short,_

_Report to my office immediately._

_Commander Julius Root_

Holly frowned. Root never called his officers off-duty unless it was an emergency… What happened? She groaned as a thought entered her head. It couldn't be that Internal Affairs wanted yet another testimony from her, could it?

_Or,_ Holly thought with dawning horror,_ have they condemned me already? Are they going to kick me off the force?_

"Hey, Lieutenant Bug, Root wants me to go to his office," she called to the sprite hovering behind her, trying to repress the tremors threatening to quaver her voice She could not be seen out of control. "You take charge of this place, okay? Our shift is nearly over anyway."

Without waiting for a reply, Holly walked to the police vehicle and drove to Haven. She strode into the LEP headquarters purposefully, or at least she thought she was. In reality, she was hurrying, walking faster and faster until she was practically running by the time she got to Root's office. Holly stopped abruptly in front of a door adorned with a metal plate, engraved with the words 'Julius Root, Commander', and, flattening her crew cut nervously, she knocked the door.

A brusque voice sounded from within the chamber. "Come in."

Holly closed the door gently behind her as she entered, wondering if the commander always sounded so rough. Julius Root, a beetroot of a fairy, his signature cigar clamped between his teeth, looked up from the screens on his desk.

"Ah, Holly. Take a seat." He gestured to one of the seats opposite him. Holly sat. Her pulse sounded like Foaly's hooves when he danced, her mouth suddenly very dry. She opened her mouth to speak, but Root started talking before her voice could utter a sound.

"Holly, I know you must be thinking why I called you here so urgently. The results of the Hamburg investigation has come out," Root said in an almost gentle voice. He reached for the screen nearest Holly and turned it around.

For a moment, Holly's brain could not register the words written on the page, but the moment passed and she scanned the screen.

_Dear Captain Holly Short, We have reached the end of the investigation blah blah blah… Due to the evidence blah blah blah… From our inquiries we have… _

_How much rubbish do these people write before they actually _tell_ me the results? Wait… here it is. _

…_you are hereby cleared of all charges. Best regards, Romulus Birch, Sicily Seed…_

_You are hereby cleared of all charges. _Relief flooded through Holly, and she looked up, smiling. For a fleeting second Holly thought Root was smiling too, if it had been there at all and not just a hallucination created from her relief. At least her commander's complexion wasn't as red as usual.

"So, Holly. You're now cleared of everything. I will take you off tunnel-duty and put you back to Recon."

"Yes, sir." Holly's elation was evident in her voice.

"But," Root continued, ignoring Holly's interruption, "You must be prepared to accept that you won't be getting as many missions as you did before, just in case this happens again. In fact, you might be lucky if you get even one every year."

Holly nodded. She had expected that. The only way to fully clear her name was to prove to the world that she was more than capable to finish missions successfully.

Root gestured to the door. "You can go now, Captain. Report here tomorrow before your shift."

"Yes, sir. Good day, sir." Holly rose and exited the room, euphoria etched into her every movement.

Root watched her go, and once the door clicked shut after her, allowed himself a small chuckle. Holly's child-like happiness was so infectious he had nearly smiled in public. Imagine the ridicule if he was caught smiling all because one of his captains were cleared from all charges! He would never recover from the shame. The last time he had smiled was so long ago Root doubted anyone remembered the occasion.

But Holly getting cleared was worth the potential embarrassment. Her record, before Hamburg, boasted of a hundred percent success rate. Not even Trouble could match that, and his reputation was well known throughout the Fairy world.

Root smiled. The whole fairy world was watching the first female Recon captain's every move, and even though the Hamburg affair was blamed on her, Root knew for a fact that Holly had done everything correctly, and that the failure was because a perp had freaked at the last minute, convinced that they were going to die at the Mud Men's hands. If it weren't for Holly's quick thinking and timely action, they may well be in the hands of the Mud Men with an interspecies war on the horizon. But Root, although respected, could not convince a whole panel of conservatives of her innocence. He doubted Holly knew just how relieved he was when he knew that she was cleared. The loss of her intuition and strong sense of justice would be a sorry day for the LEP. With that thought, Root turned back to his screens.

* * *

Back home, Holly peeled off her uniform, changing into a trusty t-shirt-and-pyjama-pants combo before collapsing on the couch. The last and only time Holly had felt this happy was the first time she had been cleared to fly above ground, and the fresh, sweet air had rushed past her, flooding her lungs, the silvery light of the moon giving the beautiful landscape a mystical quality.

Holly shifted on her couch, settling back into the soft cushions of the seat. Something dug into her lower back. She shifted again, but the thing was still there. Holly slipped her hand into the crack between the back and the seat of the couch, searching for anything stuck in the crack.

There was nothing. Satisfied, she sat back down again only to feel the thing digging into her back again. Shoving her hand back into the gap, Holly felt around, but she could only feel empty air. What was wrong with this thing? Maybe it was getting old. Even if there was something there, it would have moved by now due to her meddling, right? Holly gingerly settled back into the cushions.

For a few minutes, there was nothing making bruises on Holly's back, but slowly she became aware of an uncomfortable lump poking her back. Holly growled and, turning to face the couch, knelt on the floor and lifted off the seat cushion. There was nothing there… except a miniscule black thing jammed at an awkward angle at the very back.

Holly took it out, replacing the cushion absentmindedly. She stared at the black -shaped object. It was the bottom of an Omnitool. Her mother's Omnitool had always been missing a bottom, and she had finally found it. Not that she could put it back to its proper home, since the Omnitool had disappeared from her locker three weeks ago.

Holly turned the T-shaped bottom in her hands. This was the only bit left of her mother's Omnitool now. Something near the bottom of the T caught the light, flashing it into Holly's eyes.

"Huh? What is there to reflect off on this thing?" Holly muttered to herself.

She drew the end of the T closer to her eyes, where the black had chipped off to reveal a silvery inside. Holly knew for a fact that the insides of Omnitool bottoms were not silver. Hadn't she cracked open thousands, hundreds of thousands of T's just like these when she checked Omnitools for smuggled drugs?

Holly began to scratch at the paint. Soon a USB-like protuberance emerged from within the black paint. Holly frowned. USBs have not been made for over thirty years now. The last batch had been discontinued when she had turned fifty. Only antique collectors bought and sold them now.

Holly padded over to her computer and switched it on, plugging the USB into the hub on the computer. She was lucky that her computer was one of the older models, since the newer versions only consisted of a touch-screen monitor. She waited a few seconds, then, as the computer logged her on automatically, she opened up the USB screen.

There was only one file on it, labelled 'Holly'. She frowned. Who would go to all that trouble to install a USB into her Omnitool bottom and then put one video on it? Feeling apprehensive, she clicked on it, and the video began to play.

First, a desk. Incidentally, the desk that the computer was sitting on now. Then a fairy comes and sits in front of the camera, her long auburn hair hiding her face. She sweeps her hair back, and Holly's mother looks back at her daughter, more than thirty years separating the two. Hazel eye meets hazel eye, and Holly's mother begins to speak.

"Holly." She pauses. "I don't really know where to begin. Maybe I should just say this outright. Yes, I think that's a good idea." She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. She opens her eyes. "Holly, you have a sister."

Holly paused the video.

_I have a sister?_

It was shocking enough to suddenly see her mother again, and even more shocking to find out that she had a sister.

Mechanically, her finger pressed 'Play' again and the image unfroze. Coral Short gave an apologetic laugh and ran her hand through her long auburn hair.

"Now that I've said that, it's a lot more comfortable talking about it. I've been hiding it for twenty years, and even though that's like the blink of an eye compared to fairy life spans, I guess it still builds up habits that are hard to break.

"Anyway, the reason why I'm making this video is that I think you've got the right to know exactly what happened twenty years ago.

Coral took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, making the speakers crackle. The sudden static-like sounds woke Holly from her stupor.

_What am I doing?_ She berated herself. _This laser USB thing is unstable. I have to get it saved first, or who knows when it'll die?_ Holly transferred the file from the USB onto the computer hard drive. _I have plenty of time to see it later, right?_

The computer chimed to signify a successful transfer. Holly's cursor hovered over the icon, her finger trembling slightly. She rubbed her nose and felt liquid. Startled, she withdrew the finger and looked at it closely, then rubbed her upper lip. Unbelievable! A veteran of more than eight successful recons, and here she was, sweating at the sight of watching a harmless video her dead mother had made for her! Holly laughed nervously, and then, in the nature of a true Short, threw caution to the winds and pressed 'Play'.

"…happened twenty years ago. But more about that later." Coral ran her hand roughly through her hair again. "Let me start from the beginning.

"One-hundred and twenty-six years ago, I gave birth to your sister, Rowan." _Which would mean that she'd be one-hundred and forty-six years old this year,_ thought Holly vaguely. "One glance at her and you could tell that she'd be a handful, she had so much spirit in her eyes. And during those first few years, let me tell you," Coral said, laughing, "I swear I grew a century older in the first ten years of your sister's life, she got into so many risky situations." Her expression grew sad. "A bit like you, actually, Holly.

"Even though she still got into trouble for doing something or other, she was a top student, and after she graduated with honours from uni, just like your father, you and me, she joined the LEP's environmental department. It's a more covert sector of the LEP, and only offered to people who got honours in environmental degrees like Rowan."

Holly nodded. She had heard rumours of an exclusive department in the LEP devoted to battling the damages the Mud People inflicted on the environment, but there never seemed to be actual proof of such a department. Until now.

"Your sister did heaps for her department," said Coral, "With her brains and her passion for the environment, plus her hatred for the humans that caused all these problems. Soon she was captain, then commander. And even when she was commander, she led a lot of missions herself. Because of her, the world above the ground was cleaner than it had been for decades.

"After a while, she realised that some of the billions of humans living on Earth actually cared about the environment, and, her hatred now less strong, she began to leave clues to those select few with enough power and money to actually impact the world about how to save the environment more effectively.

"When your sister first 'visited' one of the people on her list, she had come home a little awestruck of the human. From that night on, she began to visit them more than the others on her list. She never told me what she did on those visits, or who she was visiting, but after a while, I could tell that she was only visiting just this one person, since she seemed to glow every time she came back from those missions.

Coral sighed. "Then, one night, when I was watching some show, she came home and sat down. I could tell she was very nervous, but she didn't say anything, and after a while she went into her room.

"For the next few days, she acted strangely, and just as I'd decided to ask her about it, she sat me down one night before I went to work." Coral sighed again. "I still remember that so _clearly_. Just as if it had happened that yesterday.

"She sat there for a while, playing with the tablecloth. Then she spoke, her voice flat, her eyes not meeting mine.

" 'Mother.' Your sister only called me mother if something big had happened. 'Mother,' she said again, and then she took a deep breath and looked straight into my eyes. 'I've decided to become a human.'

"When she said that, I was stunned, Holly. I didn't know what to say. But Rowan took my silence as an invitation to say more, I think, and so she started to blurt out her story.

"'You know I've been secretly contacting some humans on my missions. Well, there's this one human called Adam McEwan. He's only sixteen in human terms, and that's really young, but he's got this maturity you usually see in older fairies. Old as in two or three-century old. I've been visiting him, giving him all these ideas, and he takes them seriously. You can tell that he really does care for his world, he's got enough money and power to do something about it, and he uses that much better than the rest of the human race, maybe even more than my kiddies back at the LEP. The McEwans have traditionally been an architectural family, and he's no different. He's already started designing his own buildings, and they're all environmentally friendly. Other than that, he's funny, smart, good-looking…'

"At that point, Holly, I stopped listening. My daughter had fallen in love with a human! A human barely out of his nappies! Maybe I was wrong to yell at her after that for falling in love, but I did anyway." Coral covered her face with her hands, her voice becoming muffled, indistinct.

"I yelled at her for falling for a human, the people who had driven us out of our natural homes. The people poisoning the Earth that we all lived on, that she was so passionately trying to save. She yelled back at me, telling me that not all people were like that, and no fairy could match Adam's concern and love for Nature. We fought loudly, wildly. Finally, I said coldly to her, 'If you leave through that door for that Mud Man, from now on, I only have one daughter.'

"She looked at me and then she whirled and packed her stuff. I was still in the kitchen, but my anger was deflating, and I was already wishing I hadn't said those words. Who was I to tell my daughter who deserved her love? But it was too late. After Rowan had finished packing all her things, she stormed out and slammed the door behind her."

Coral wiped her face with her hands, and smiled shakily at Holly. "I haven't seen her since. Her disappearance was put down to equipment malfunction on a supposed mission she was going on somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, her equipment was acidified, and that was that.

"One more thing before I finish this. Holly, I know you're going to ask how come you didn't know about this. You didn't really know your sister anyway, since she had already started working in the LEP by the time you were born, and she came home late and went to work early. So, right after she had left, I went and shoved all her remaining belongings down into a flare chamber and then erased all memories of her from your mind. But I regret doing that now, and that's why I made this video, so that you know you have a sister, and if you choose, you can go find her. I know I'll never be able to see her again. I don't know if I can deal with seeing her, and even if I can, I doubt she'll look at me, let alone talk to me.

Coral seemed to droop; she looked as if she had aged a millennium in the space of a second. "Holly, I hope you don't hate me after seeing this. I've specially sealed it so that you can get this USB out only after I've died. Just know that I love you, and all that I've done was to protect you."

The screen went blank.

Holly stared at the screen, unable to believe what she had just heard. She had had a sister who her mother had erased from her memories, and who had run off to join the Mud race to become a Mud Man? This couldn't be true; it had to be a prank set by someone. But who would go to the lengths of writing a video in her mother's image, her mother's voice, then put it onto a USB that had been outdated a few decades ago, and could only be used on really old computers?

Holly took the USB out of the computer. Foaly would know if this was real. He knew every single technology that had been available to them for the past century, since he had invented most of it. He could tell her if it was authentic. Holly pocketed the USB, threw on a jacket and ran out of the door.

* * *

Foaly was just about to put the monitors on 'Automatic' and call it a day when Holly knocked on the window and let herself into the Op booth.

"Hey, Holly," Foaly greeted happily. "Why are you here? Your shift ended an hour ago!"

"Foaly," Holly replied in a tone which sobered Foaly up immediately, "I need to know what this is." She drew out the black USB and held it out. Foaly's eyes widened as he took the object from the elf.

"Holly, is this a laser USB? How did you get this? Why are you still using this? It's been outdated for two decades!"

Holly swallowed. "So you're sure this is a laser USB?"

"Of course I'm sure," said Foaly, snorting. "How could I not know it when it was me who got everyone off these things and onto the memory seeds, then moving them onto the…" The centaur trailed off, noticing that his audience wasn't listening to him. Holly was frowning, and she was biting her nail. Something was wrong. Holly _never_ bit her nails.

Foaly gently put his hands on Holly's shoulders and turned her around so that she was facing him. "Holly, is everything alright?"

Holly, startled out of her daze, dropped her hand from her mouth, exclaiming a bit too shrilly, "Yeah, everything's OK."

She visibly gathered herself, asking her friend in a much calmer voice, "This is authentic? Not a fake?"

Foaly nodded, concerned. "This is the real thing. The bad thing about this piece of junk," he said, falling into his habit of lecturing people whenever he was nervous, "Is that once you put something on it, you can't delete it or change it. You can put a million things on it, but you can't get rid of it. This is like a mini external hard drive."

Holly was staring up at him in shock. Foaly stopped talking at once. Did he say something wrong?

Holly, still staring at him, said good-bye and walked off. Foaly watched her retreating back, and then began to set his computers on 'Automatic' to try take his mind off his worry for Holly.

* * *

Holly trudged back to her apartment, flopping back onto the couch. She lay down across the seats, and held up the USB, outlined against the light bulb on the ceiling. So this thing was authentic. And Foaly had said that anything, once put on it, couldn't be changed. So it really was her mother talking, and she really did have a sister.

She rolled onto her side, contemplating what she had seen and heard. She reached over and put the USB onto the coffee table, feeling a lot calmer than she did a while ago.

_Maybe I should go find this sister of mine. Rowan, I think her name was. It's time I visited her._

**

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Hiya people!

**Hope that was ok :] Next chapter will be above ground again. But we will visit the People once in a while. X]**

**Hey, can someone explain to me what 'hits' are? On the story traffic page there are 'visitors' and there are 'hits'. What are they? What do they do? What's the point of them? Explain it to me please! I've been puzzling about it for a long long time...**

**Happy Hallowe'en! *makes ghostly noises***

**Et-R**

**P.S. Hey, I just realised! All my lines in this A/N start with H except for my signature, and if you get rid of the P.S, this one does too! O.o**


	18. Opal Koboi

**I am EXTREMELY sorry about the delay for this chapter. I've just been lazy. You can now all go yell at me. :(**

**But, before you yell at me, read this chapter first!**

**So, without further ado, I present chapter 20 of The Dance called Life**

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**Somewhere in the middle of Australia **

Opal Koboi studied at her nails critically. Or, at least that's what she _looked_ like she was doing to Mervall and Descant, the pixie twins who were currently attempting to create a 'light, fresh salad with a low-fat cream dressing' from one-week old vegetables and cheese.

"I thought I told you to go get more food days ago," Merv hissed, glancing at Opal, who was still mesmerized by her nails.

Scant growled. "I was going to, remember? And then Her Highness sent me off to Ireland. So I couldn't, could I? I only came back yesterday. You know how hard it is to fly from here to Ireland, observe some girl while researching her background, and then flying back here? From Ireland?"

"This is impossible. How are we supposed to make salad with only cheese and mouldy vegetables?" Merv groaned. "I bet she's not even going to eat it after we make it."

"How can I eat this?" Scant mimicked, his voice squeaking in an imitation of Opal. "The lettuce isn't crisp enough! Make it again."

"Mervall, Descant, come in here," called Opal imperiously. Scant jumped. Had she heard him? Sneaking to the doorway, the twins peeked through. Opal was still looking at her nails.

"What do we do?" asked Scant, his voice tinged with panic. "Does she want her salad already?"

Merv replied in a hiss. "We'll go in, and don't mention the salad, whatever she says. She might be asking for something else and might've totally forgotten about the salad." Scant nodded and straightened, putting on what he thought was a calm and serene expression on his face. They looked at each other, smiling serenely, and together, walked through the doorway to stop in front of Opal, who had stopped looking at her nails and were staring at the pixies.

"I thought you weren't going to come," said Opal, looking from one twin to the other. "What took you so long?"

A bead of sweat trickled down the side of the pixies' face. Even their sweat-dropping was in sync. "Nothing," they said together.

Opal regarded them with a raised eyebrow, but said nothing. Merv and Scant breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'll be busy for a day or two," she said, her voice tinged with suspicion. The twins were obviously hiding something from her. Could it hinder her plan? "While I'm gone, I have an assignment for you. Both of you."

Opal swivelled her chair and picked up a remote, the pixies standing rigidly straight behind her. She pointed the remote at a blank wall and pressed a button. A map appeared on the wall. Scant widened his eyes. The map even included moving images of the animals in the vicinity!

Opal twirled a laser pointer. "I want you two to build a house here," she indicated, circling the specified area with her laser, "And the house has to fit my exact dimensions." She clicked another button, and a blueprint for a house appeared next to the map.

Merv looked at the map closely. "Opal, is that – "

"Don't call me Opal!"

"Sorry, Miss Koboi. Anyway, Miss Koboi, is that a map for... Ireland?"

"Yes. I want this house in Ireland."

Merv gulped. She wanted a house that big to be built in Ireland? When they were currently situated in Australia because Opal wanted to investigate whether the energy produced by kangaroos jumping could be harnessed to do... something?

Scant, who was observing the progress of a rabbit making its way through the grass, perked his ears up at the mention of Ireland.

"We're going to Ireland?! To build a house?!"

"Yes, Descant. And I want it here." Opal increased the intensity of the laser to highlight the exact spot for her house. The wall started smoking. "It has to be here." She moved the laser slowly until the outline for that particular area was burnt into the wall, then decreased its intensity. "Get it?"

Scant, feeling slightly panicked at the amount of work Opal was assigning them, looked over at the plan of the house. And frowned. "Miss Koboi... How are we supposed to build a seven storey house?"

Opal smiled sweetly, sending chills down the pixies' spines. "What are you talking about, Descant? It's only one storey. The rest," she moved the laser around the bottom six levels, "Is underground." She pressed one more button, and both the map and the plan disappeared, leaving a black circle on the wall. "I want to be in Ireland by tomorrow morning. So get to work, boys."

Merv and Scant turned and walked off, feeling dazed by the events. Opal never allowed them to drive when she was awake, since she said she couldn't sleep when the shuttle was moving, and so technically they could only drive for ten hours every night. Ten hours to get from Australia to Ireland. Even if they were moving at their fastest speed it would take at least twelve hours to arrive! Especially since Opal disliked going through turbulence, which meant at least four hours of detours.

Opal's voice arrested their movement. "Oh, I nearly forgot." The twins stopped in fear. Were they walking strangely? Did their hair stick up? Was she going to make them build a level in her underground house especially for a jacuzzi?

"Yes, Miss Koboi?" They said in unison, fear trembling their voices.

"Where's my salad?"

**

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**Fowl Manor**

- - I'm going out, Butler. See you later. - -

"Are you sure that you'll be okay going out by yourself?"

- - Yes. What could happen to a kid like me? I'm not known well, not like Arty. - -

"Okay," said Butler sceptically. It was his responsibility to look after them both... but Sana was such a low risk target. Seriously, the McEwen family had never been targeted, unlike the Fowls, who received at least one death threat a day. She would be fine on her own, right?

"Have you got lunch? Stay safe. Don't go too far. Come back for dinner. Don't talk to strangers."

Sana flapped her hand at her as she left the room. Butler worried too much. It was just a walk around the country. No-one ever came around here. Today was too nice a day to waste indoors. The sun was out, the sky was a perfect arch of blue, birds were chirping... Sana just wanted to go into one of those soft, lush grassy paddocks and roll around in it.

As she walked down the road, fantasising about all the things she could do, a bright red convertible drove past with a loud _vrooOOoom_, shattering the calm Sana had felt. Annoyed at the car for disturbing her peace, Sana frowned at it and stuck her tongue out at it. Suddenly, the car stopped, and reversed, stopping violently beside the girl, who could see her surprised face reflected in the sunglasses of the driver. Sana tilted her head in confusion. What was the driver doing? Her eyes widened in fear. Were they going to bash her up for poking her tongue out? She flinched as the driver reached up. Sana squeezed her eyes shut. She had been right! They were going to attack her.

"Sana? Is that you?" A silvery voice, with an accent that didn't sound like any accent Sana had heard before, glided through the air. Sana gingerly opened her eyes. The driver had removed her sunglasses to reveal a pair of very pretty eyes, which were, right now, staring at Sana. Long, flowing hair gleamed in the sun, framing a heart-shaped face so delicate it seemed to be made of porcelain. Sana stared at the woman, her fear forgotten. She was so _beautiful_. Were people this perfect allowed to exist? Even if she looked like she was smaller than Sana, who was a bit short for her age.

"Are you Sana?" The woman spoke again, her voice tinged with hesitation. Sana nodded. The woman broke into a brilliant smile. "I knew it! The minute I saw your face, I knew it was you. You look so much like your mother."

Sana's mouth dropped open. This woman knew her mother? The woman laughed delicately at Sana's reaction.

"Yes, I knew your mother," she said, but then her face grew sad. "The world lost something when she died." The woman smiled. "You look exactly the same as Rowan did when she was around your age."

Sana took out her whiteboard quickly. Since most of the world didn't know sign language, she was stuck with a whiteboard when she spoke with people other than her close friends or family. _What do you mean? Did you know my mum when she was little?_

The woman nodded. "Yes, we were good friends when we were younger. We... fell out for a bit, but we made up after a while. Thank goodness for that, or I'd miss out on seeing Rowan again before she died."

Sana's mind whirred. This must be the fairy friend that her mum had spoken of! There was one more thing to ask.

_Are you a fairy?_

The woman, reading the question, raised her eyebrows but nodded curtly.

"Did Rowan tell you?"

_Yes._

"I see." The woman looked away, at something behind Sana. "That changes the plan a bit..." Sana cocked her head in confusion. Plan?

Seeing the confusion, the woman laughed. "Sorry. I have a tendency to talk to myself. Don't worry about it." She stuck out a hand. "I don't think I've introduced myself. I'm Opal. Opal Koboi. "

**

* * *

****Bottom of a hole, ten kilometres west of Fowl Manor**

Scant planted his laser shovel into the ground and placed his hands on his back, stretching. Several bones cracked.

Merv jumped. "Ah! What was that sound?"

"That was my spine," Scant groaned. "This digging is killing me."

Merv and Scant had not slept for the past forty hours. In order to pacify Opal after failing to make her salad, Merv and Scant had had to fly at the fastest speed the Koboi Air Travel Shuttle (KATS) could manage so that they could reach Ireland just as the sun was rising. Even though Ireland was seven hours behind the Northern Territory in Australia, giving them extra time to meet their deadline, Opal had gone to sleep later than usual in order to 'perfect the plan', shortening their advantage to four hours. As a result, they had only finished landing just as the first rays of the Sun reached into the clear Irish sky. When the twins thought they could rest, Opal left, telling them that she wanted her house finished by the next evening, and then had driven off in a Mud vehicle.

"Where is Opal anyway?" Scant asked, rotating his hips in a wide circle in an attempt to loosen his back.

Merv shrugged. "I don't care. I just hope that we get this finished by the time she comes back."

"Are we deep enough yet? We've been digging with these things for four hours."

"I think we have three four metres to go. But our hole's wide and long enough."

"A few more metres, eh?" Scant picked up his shovel, adjusted his shovel to four metres, and began to dig with renewed strength. Even though they hated Opal at that moment for making them build a house in two days, Merv and Scant could not but thank her for making them both special laser shovels. The concept of the shovel was that a laser was used instead of plain metal, and so the depth of the shovel could be adjusted to a depth of six metres. The best thing was, the laser shovel could be used to dig corners, which meant that the hole was already a perfect rectangle.

Finally, after another thirty minutes, Merv threw down his shovel and lay flat on his back. Scant joined him soon after.

Merv sighed in relief. "We're finally done. The hole is done."

Scant nodded. The two brothers lay there, exhausted to their bones, and slowly, the cool darkness of the damp dirt seeped into their bones, relaxing their aching muscles. Their eyelids drooped. Soon Merv and Scant were asleep, oblivious to the rest of the world and to the passing of time.

**

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****The countryside of Ireland**

"... and then, would you believe it? Rowan just marches up to the guy and tells him off! A girl half his size!"

Sana looked over at Opal, who was laughing at Rowan's antics from more than a century ago.

_She was like that even then?_ Sana scribbled.

Opal glanced at the whiteboard and nodded. "She didn't change, even when she got banished from her race. She sticks to her beliefs like Mulch sticks to someone else's wealth. Mulch," she explained, "Is a dwarf infamous for his stealing."

After Opal had introduced herself to Sana, she had invited the girl onto the car for a drive around the country. Right now they were whizzing through somewhere with green rolling hills, where Opal was regaling tales of Rowan's childhood for Sana's entertainment.

Opal fell silent, and the two continued in silence for a while. Sana hesitantly touched her sleeve. Instantly, Opal looked over at Sana and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry about me. I was just thinking whether to tell you something or not." At this, Sana began to nod violently, looking at Opal in a hopeful, wide-eyed way.

"Don't do that puppy-dog look at me," Opal frowned, looking to the front. Then she glanced back at Sana, murmuring to herself, "Have I done well enough? Does she trust me enough? She needs to hear this from me. Especially if she's to help me in the human world while I conquer the People. But I need to time this with Merv and Scant finishing the house by tomorrow evening. They better finish it properly and on time, or I'm going to kill them."

Sana strained her ears to hear what Opal was saying, but only heard a soft murmur. Presently Opal stopped murmuring, and parked the car to the side of the road.

"Sana, do you trust me?"

Sana nodded and wrote, _Of course. You're my mum's friend._

Opal inwardly smiled. All was going according to plan. Outwardly, she sighed and reached for Sana's hand.

"What I'm about to tell you is something you can't tell anyone, okay? Not even the Fowls."

Sana nodded, puzzled. How did she know she lived with Artemis? She hadn't said anything about them. It must be because her mum had told Opal about her and Aunty Angie's pact. That's right. Her mum had told Opal before.

Opal tightened her grip on Sana's hand, looked around covertly and then leaned forward, saying softly, "Your parents were murdered."

Sana reeled back, her back hitting the door of the convertible. How was that possible? Who'd want to kill her parents?

Opal nodded. "I thought their deaths a little suspicious, and so I did a little investigating myself, and that's what I found. They were killed, and then the house was set alight. But I still haven't found out who did it, just what happened that night. I'm still looking for the murderer, and I'm worried that they'll find you and kill you too." Opal's eyes filled with tears. "I can't let that happen to you, my friend's only child."

Sana looked down, blinking rapidly, feeling the tingling in her nose that told her she was about to cry. Opal looked at Sana from under her lashes. Good, she was responding to the murder.

"Listen, Sana. I want to bring justice to their deaths, but I need help. I've tried to send the information to police stations, but no-one cares." Opal looked straight into Sana's eyes. Time to tinge her voice with the mesmer. Just a bit. Not enough to control her, just enough to _persuade_ the girl to help her.

"Help me avenge them." Sana's eyes widened. Was it possible for anyone's voice to be more beautiful than Opal's? "No-one else cares, Sana. Justice is up to us to invoke. If you help me, I'll direct you to accomplish missions for me, missions that only you can do. You must help me. This is the only way to avenge your parents." Opal layered a bit more mesmer into her voice. "Follow me. Help me. This is the only way you can avenge your parents."

Sana nodded, getting a little teary. Of course she had to avenge her parents! Her parents, murdered! If Opal was the only one who could help her take revenge, then she would do whatever Opal wanted her to do.

Sana took out her board. _Thank you for telling me. I will do anything to avenge them. What should I do now, Aunty Opal?_

Opal smiled. The best people to control were recently orphaned children, and here was a case proven. "One, stop calling me Aunty Opal. It makes me feel old." Sana quickly rubbed the 'Aunty' off her board. "Two, here's a phone for you. This way, I can contact you whenever I need you to do something." Opal took out a slim concoction of plastic and metal out. "This has a touch screen. Play with it in your spare time. To answer calls, press the green button. Don't show anyone this either."

Opal smiled at Sana, then glanced at the dashboard. "Didn't you mention something about going home for lunch? It's about time to head back. Put your seatbelt on." With that, Opal swung the car into a violent U-turn and began to speed down the freeway.

**

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****The hole in the ground, again**

"Merv! Merv!" Someone seemed to be shaking him.

"Go away. Let me sleep for five more minutes..." Merv rolled over, away from the source of the shaking.

"Merv! Wake up!" Scant screamed into his ears.

Merv opened his eyes blearily. "Where are we?"

"We need to build the house!"

"What house?"

"Opal's house!" Scant replied. "It's four in the afternoon! We slept for too long!"

Merv bolted upright, hitting Scant, who was bent over him. "The house!"

Scant nodded furiously. "We've only dug the hole!"

"Why is there only a hole? What happened to the rest? Why is the wood I bought still sitting in stacks?" Opal's voice drifted down. The twins froze and looked up, where they saw Opal's face looking down at them exasperatedly.

"We're working on it!"

"Well, get to it. Come up, eat something and then go back down later. You're not sleeping until this is finished." Opal's face disappeared, and soon they heard the door of KATS slam shut.

Merv looked at Scant. "She's in a good mood. I thought we were going to be dead."

Scant nodded fervently. "The plan must've gone well. I guess the girl must've been really agreeable. Thank you, Sana, for being so good and saying yes to Opal so quickly! I love you!"

"Merv! Scant! Make dinner!" Opal shouted from KATS. The twins, without further ado, activated their prototype DoubleDex wings and flew up.

Opal, sitting in her hover chair, smiled at the twins as they walked past.

"Don't take too long!" she called. "I want to eat soon, and the house still has to be finished. Remember, deadline's tomorrow night, nine o'clock."

Merv and Scant answered in unison, "Yes, Miss Koboi." In an undertone, Scant said to Merv, "The plan must've gone really well. She smiled at us!"

At that instant, Opal laughed delighted. Merv and Scant, unnerved in a good way, hurried to prepare dinner from fresh food, bought when Opal refused to leave Australia with only mouldy vegetables as food.

Oblivious to the effect her behaviour was giving Merv and Scant, Opal laughed again. She loved gullible, temperamental girls! Who knew that her chosen human puppet was so easy to manipulate? With such little use of the mesmer? From what she had seen in the report Descant had given her, Sana had all the physical and mental capabilities to accomplish what Opal had planned for her. Making up all those stories were easy, since Sana didn't know anything about her mother before she became human. Opal laughed derisively. Poor girl, she even believed her when she was told her parents were murdered. How dumb could anyone get? Opal reached for her remote and pressed a button. A large picture of Sana appeared on the wall.

"Sana, my dear girl," Opal purred, "You're going to help me conquer the world."

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**How was that? Please review!**

**And, after a discussion with my sister, I have decided to slowly edit this story, since it moves a bit too slowly for my liking, especially the beginning and the more recent chapters. Don't worry, I'm not going to change my main ideas, I'm just improving the story. So don't be alarmed if chapters suddenly come up as a earlier number, because I might have merged some chapters together.**

**Bye bye until next time!**


	19. A house to call one's own

**Hi people!**

**Long time no see! Just wanted to say hi... but there's time for talk later. So, without bothering you any further, I say, enjoy!**

**(This chapter is dedicated to my friend SwordsMagician, who's birthday it is today. Happy 17th!)**

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**Fowl Manor**

Artemis leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes. The imprints of the glaring white screen of the computer seemed to be permanently etched into his vision. There were so many obscure sources of information on fairies, so many websites containing false pieces of information that Artemis sometimes just wanted to give up on it all. But he never did, because whenever fairies were mentioned, there was always gold involved. So Artemis gritted his teeth, opened his eyes and continued to trawl through the wealth of information known as the Internet.

Downstairs, Butler was doing his routine checks on the security measures that Fowl Manor was saturated with. He had just finished measuring the sensitivity of the pressure board hidden in the stairs that lead from the entrance hall to the rooms upstairs when he saw Juliet sitting despondently on the side. He walked over and joined her on the floor.

"What's wrong, Juliet?"

Juliet sighed. "It's Mrs. Fowl, Dom. She's getting stranger and stranger by the day. She can't even remember who I am, and she keeps thinking that Mr. Fowl's going to come back at anytime."

Butler felt a deep weariness seep into his bones. _Artemis' mother's getting worse every day, and he just sits in his room, refusing to eat regular meals or to sleep normally_, Butler thought, _but I can't do anything about it. I'm just a bodyguard._ He patted his sister on the back, attempting to comfort her. "Don't feel depressed. We can only follow Artemis' orders, and do the best we can."

Juliet nodded. "Can I help you check the stuff?"

Butler assented, and brother and sister stood and slowly made their way down the hall, stopping occasionally to check a camera. He picked a button camera out of its hole. Although he was only a bodyguard, sometimes he felt the young Irish boy was more like a younger brother than a principal, and now Butler's protective-older-brother mind kicked in gear. _I think I need to check up on him_, he thought, his mind preoccupied on Artemis and Angeline.

There was something else niggling at the back of his mind, but try as he might Butler could not remember what it was that was bothering him so much. He had a feeling it was extremely important, but Butler dismissed the feeling. His priority was Artemis, and if he was forgetting it, it must be unrelated to Artemis, and therefore unimportant.

Some years later, Butler would come to regret not finding out what he was forgetting, but that was in the future, and so he couldn't do anything about it.

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**Opal's house**

Merv lay the last tile down on the roof. "Yes! I'm done! How 'bout you, Scant?"

"Yeah, I just finished." Scant nailed the last board down onto the verandah.

Merv cheered. "We just finished Opal's house in two days! Are we amazing, or not?"

Scant nodded fervently. "I can't believe we finished this! Not sleeping for two nights was worth it. And it's only eight in the morning now. We can sleep for the next day and night!"

Merv voiced his agreement. A movement on the distant road caught his tired eyes. At first, he thought it was just because his eyes were tired. Merv dragged his hand over them. The car was still there. And it was red...

"Scant! Opal's here!" Merv scrambled down from the roof. Scant threw his tools into his bag and hurried over to Merv. Together they carried the ladder to a copse of trees on the side. Before they left, Scant swept his eye over the garden to see if they had left anything behind, and seeing nothing, the twins hurried into the cover of trees.

"Hurry, hurry!" Scant urged Merv. "Walk faster! We have to be out of here before she comes back, or we'll be punished again!"

Merv hissed back, practically running, ladder banging against his leg, "I know! What do you think I'm doing!"

Just as they reached the safety of Opal's trailer, in a clearing with a hidden view of Opal's house, Opal parked in front of the house. They quickly packed away the ladder and, hiding the tools under Scant's blanket, they rushed back outside. Trying to control their panting, they waited, until Opal emerged from the brush surrounding the clearing.

"It looks okay from the outside, Mervall, Descant. I'm happy with your work. After I get something to eat, I'm going to inspect the inside of it. If it's up to my standards, you can rest. If not..." Opal left the sentence trailing in the air. The pixies swallowed. Hard.

Opal disappeared into the trailer. Merv and Scant collapsed into a heap with relief.

"She said it was okay!" Scant whispered ecstatically to his twin.

"I know!" Merv replied, equally as ecstatic. "That's practically an 'It was perfect!' from her!"

Soon after, Opal re-emerged. Seeing the pixies in a tired heap, she laughed softly to herself. Mervall and Descant. Who could ask for more loyal servants? They knew that she'd betray them without a thought, but they were still so loyal to her. She shook her head at them. _And all just because I promised them their own island after I conquer the world._

Opal cleared her throat. The pixies jumped to their feet, facing her.

"I'm going down there now. I won't be returning for a while, so stay here until I tell you to leave."

"Yes, Miss Koboi."

Opal smiled at them, and made her way down to her new house. Her plan was going all according to plan, and her miraculous find of Sana just sped her plan up by a few decades. She laughed in sheer delight. The laugh was as pure and innocent as a young girl shrieking with delight on a swing.

The twins stared at their boss's retreating back, raising their eyebrows at each other over her sudden amicability and happiness. Since they became her employees, Opal had never used such nice words or gentle tones at them, or laughed so easily. Why, she had laughed more than five times in the past day! That was more than the amount of laughter for the past _decade_.

Scant leaned over to his twin. "Opal's in a _really_ good mood."

"Yeah," Merv nodded fervently. "Let's hope this mood of hers lasts for a long _long_ time."

* * *

Opal opened the door to her house. From the outside, the house had looked beautiful, with its pale creamy bricks and teal roof. A white verandah fronted the cottage, leading to large, white French doors. When she had driven up the gravel path, hidden behind a strategically placed bush, she hadn't known what to expect. The twins weren't the most reliable servants, and she had expected a half finished hovel with steel beams everywhere. But this... they had surpassed themselves.

Opal carefully inspected everything inside, and then, lifting a board in the corner, she pressed a button. Immediately, planks began to move, until the staircase leading to the next level down had appeared. Noting down the speed of the planks, any sound emitted, and other technical details, Opal descended down the stairs. Many of her new inventions had been used while building this house and many more had been installed into the house. So far, the prototypes were working efficiently. Opal smiled greedily. She could already hear the money building up in her bank account.

Satisfied with everything she saw, Opal began to climb the stairs back to the main floor. After all, she had a guest to receive, and she couldn't present an empty shell of a house to her, could she?

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Fowl Manor

Sana lay on her bed, munching on an apple she had stolen from the fridge when Butler wasn't looking. She flipped onto her side and stared at a phone lying on her bedside table, waiting for it to ring. But it hadn't made a sound since she got it three days ago, so why would it ring now?

Sana wanted to scream out of boredom. Artemis was wrapped up in his room, doing something or other. Angeline had been moved to the attic, and was now refusing to see anyone. According to Juliet, she even forgot who her own son was three days out of four, so Sana doubted she'd remember her. Juliet was leaving for Madame Ko in two days. Butler had forgotten about her, worrying over Artemis and Angeline, to the extent that Sana had needed to steal food from the fridge to feed herself. Sana had a suspicion that Artemis' actions and Angeline's escalating madness had driven all thoughts of herself out of everyone's minds, everyone forgetting that she now lived in Fowl Manor and not next door.

As if the phone could sense her boredom, it began to shriek its ringtone to the world. Sana snatched it up with relief.

_Hello? Opal? Is that you?_ Sana had discovered, after much trialling, that Opal's phone could detect her thoughts.

Opal laughed. "Of course it's me, Sana. Who else would it be? Anyway, do you want to come over to my house?"

Sana sent a quick thank you to God. _Yes! Of course! I'll meet you outside the Fowl Manor gates? _

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there in ten minutes." Opal hung up.

Yes! Finally! Something to do! And what better than breaking her boredom by meeting up with Opal and helping her exact revenge on her parents' killers? Sana tore around the room, throwing her phone, keys, wallet and mini-whiteboard into a small backpack. She was about to leave the room when she realised she was still wearing her pyjamas. Sana quickly took them off, not caring if some buttons flew off in her haste, and quickly chucked on a large T-shirt and a pair of shorts.

Rushing down the stairs, Sana opened the doors and locked them behind her. She raced down the drive, knowing it took at least eight minutes of sprinting to reach the end of the driveway. Just as she climbed over the Fowl Manor gates and stood there, panting, Opal drove up.

"Sana! Get in!"

Sana climbed into the passenger seat, and Opal sped off.

"I live quite close to you, Sana. Just five minutes drive from Fowl Manor. It's really nice, and you'll love it..."

Sana zoned out, enjoying the car ride as well as the flow of Opal's voice. Soon, they reached a more woody part of Ireland. Opal drove towards a hill and right at a bush. Sana looked horrified. What was Opal thinking?

Opal glanced over at Sana's face. "Don't worry. My driveway is right under the bush." So saying, she sped under the bush. The gap was so low Sana could feel the leaves brush over her head. The car drove up a long, steep track, before arriving at the top. Sana gasped. On top of the slope was the most _beautiful_ cottage ever.

Opal giggled at her reaction. "I know right? Every time I come home I still can't believe it's mine." So saying, she parked the car expertly in front of the house. Walking over to the door, she opened it.

"Welcome to my house, Sana."

Sana walked in. Her mouth dropped open. The entire floor had been designed for welcoming guests. Golden mock-wood planks covered the floors, while sunlight streamed from the many large windows to hit the creamy-white walls, creating the illusion that the whole space was filled with light. Roomy lounges had been arranged around a gigantic coffee table on the right, where a cinema sized plasma screen was mounted on the wall. On the left was a chest-high wooden barrier, fencing off a space with a large, polished oak table. A door in the far left corner led, presumably, to the toilet.

While Sana stood there, staring at the beauty of her house, Opal ran over everything with her eye once more. Her choice to get the environmentally friendly materials had been correct. She intended to rule the world, but she did not want to destroy the world in the process. Besides, the synthetic materials were more durable and more attractive than the real materials.

Sana frowned. _Where are the bedrooms, the bathrooms, the kitchen?_ Sana wrote on her board.

Opal raised her eyebrows at the question. "I thought you were never going to ask." Leading Sana over to the far right corner of the house, Opal showed Sana the hidden stairs. Sana looked on in amazement. Were these even possible?

The lights in the lower floor immediately switched on the instant the stairs had begun to form, flooding the level with light that was exactly like the Sun's light streaming through the windows behind Sana.

Opal descended the stairs. "This is the kitchen and dining area." She led the girl to set of steps leading down, on the opposite wall of the stairs leading to the top floor. In this slightly zigzagged fashion, Opal led Sana through all six underground floors of her house, including the bedrooms, where the seven bedrooms all faced each other, three on each side and one on the end. Opal assured Sana that all the bedrooms had their own bathroom, and each was the size of a third of the top storey. Then came a level with an Olympic sized pool, complete with change rooms and showers, a fully equipped gym, a martial-arts training studio, and, strangely, a room filled with blank screens and complicated looking buttons lying row after row under them.

Sana had been silent the minute Opal materialised the first stairs out of the ground. Now she stood, staring at the technological marvels around her.

"What do you think, Sana?" Opal asked.

Sana looked at her. Her face broke into a huge grin. She took out her whiteboard and scribbled quickly on it. _I love it! It's so cool!_

"I'm glad you like it. Actually, I have a confession to make."

Sana looked at her, puzzled. Opal smiled. "Sana, I already have a house. I built this for you." Sana stared at her in shock.

"You see," Opal explained, "Rowan was my dearest friend, and she stood up for me countless times when we were younger. But, when she needed me the most, I ignored her and pretended she didn't exist, until a few years ago. That doesn't change the fact that I had abandoned her. So when I heard that Rowan had died, leaving behind her daughter, I vowed to create a space for her where she could relax and escape from the pain and sorrow, and somehow from that it evolved into this." Opal waved a hand around, and then felt a crushing pain where Sana was hugging her.

To her utter disbelief, Sana was crying. Opal couldn't believe how gullible she was! Why would anyone build a house for a young girl like her? That was one of the most unbelievable stories ever, yet Sana believed her utterly, and was even crying out of gratitude, or grief or whatever. Opal patted Sana's head absently while trying to bite back the laughter bubbling out of her throat. The more she knew Sana, the easier part one of her plan seemed to be.

"Don't cry, Sana." Opal said gently, belying the mirth she could feel. "There, there."

Sana slowly subsided into stillness. She let go of Opal and dragged an arm over her eyes. Opal handed her a key.

"This is the key to this house. You saw how to activate the first set of stairs. Come here whenever you want, okay?"

Sana nodded and smiled at Opal. She couldn't believe how nice Ma's friends were. They were so nice, so trustworthy. The house was beautiful, and now it was hers. How could she ever repay Opal for all this?

Opal, seemingly catching Sana's thoughts, smiled gently. "You can repay me by helping me with my plan. We both want to revenge your parents, right? So lend me your help, and that will be just repayment."

Sana took out her whiteboard. She wrote something down, and then spun it around to face Opal. Opal read it, and her eyes widened, her mind leaping with joy.

_I will do whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want._

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**So... how was that? Any comments? I have to apologise though that this chappie's all full of description and nothing on the story. So yes. I'M SORRY!!!!!!!!! *does the 'sorry sorry' dance***

**Anyway, even though I said I was changing this slowly, I haven't done anything yet :D but I will. Shortly. Sometime. Maybe... **

**Hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for visiting The Dance called Life. See you next time!**


	20. Dear Readers

Dear Readers,

This is one of those notes where the author makes up some crappy excuse about not updating. I'M SORRY!!!!!! :'(

Anyway, because this is my HSC year, I will continue updating, but irregularly, as it will depend on the amount of work I have and how much stress I'm in. The more stress, the faster the updates. Weird I know, but that's how I run. More stress equals more escapism. So yeah. :D (SM, you are amazing, you know you are. Writing two stories at the same time? During the HSC? You're absolutely awesome.) But, look forward to November, because that's when I'm done, and I'll be able to have regular updates! Yay! XD

I will continue the renovations of this story, and the first bit of this major project is nearly done! (thank you, my lovely sister. I appreciate your help and criticism, even if it is slightly annoying at times...) :)

So hope you will all understand, and hope you continue sticking with my story. Thank you. ^^

Happy Easter!

Love you all,

Et-R


	21. Plots, Plans and 100 Percent Brain Space

**Hi people! I'm officially back from the dead! It's been what, four months or something since I last posted. I'm EXTREMELY SORRY! DX I won't give any excuses though... because I don't have any! :P It's just been me being lazy... so yeah. I'm sorry :(**

**Ok, I'll stop grovelling and actually let you read this latest installment of The Dance Called Life. But before I do that, I must give a massive THANK YOU to my sister for her constant nagging (which I ignored half the time :P) and her live reviews :D YOU'RE AWESOMEEE~! ^^**

**Enjoy! *places a plate of cyber-cookies next to chapter to enjoy while reading***

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**Fowl Manor**

Butler artfully tossed on to three plates a casual dinner. He made his way into the dining room and placed two of the plates in front of the two occupants sitting next to one another at the dining table. Sana nodded her thanks, as usual. Artemis mechanically started eating, forking food into his mouth, thought lines deeply furrowing his once-smooth brow.

Butler shook his head, worried about his young charge, but Artemis no longer listened to his bodyguard's advice, nor cared about the opinions of those around him. From what Butler had heard from his uncle Major before being contracted as young Artemis's bodyguard, Mr. Fowl was an intimidating, commanding man with more underground connections than the Godfather. And from the way that Artemis had been acting since his father's disappearance and his mother's slow descent into insanity, he was turning into the father he both loved and revered. _Which would be a good thing_, thought Butler, _if not for the fact that Mr. Artemis Fowl's not the most ideal of role-models for young prepubescent boys, like his son._

His heart heavy, Butler walked to the attic holding the last plate, repeating the words Madame Ko had beaten – sometimes literally – into every trainee's head to prevent emotions from clouding their thoughts.

_I am a bodyguard, first and foremost. I am here to protect my principal, who is Artemis Fowl Junior, and to do whatever task he wants done. I am a bodyguard, first and foremost. I am here to protect my principal..._

* * *

Artemis quietly chewed a cherry tomato.

He contemplated on his work so far in researching fairies. Even though it one of the most ludicrous ventures he had undertaken since Artemis Fowl Snr had disappeared, all of the other more reasonable plans had fallen to pieces.

The main reason for their failure was, of course, his youth. None of his father's business partners had been willing to deal with a child, especially since the guardians of said child were not particularly stable, one being missing and the other rumoured to be going insane.

Artemis' frown deepened at all of them, at their many polite, subtle but firm rejection letters for being their business partner littering his desk. His inventions could never be acknowledged fully until he became an adult, making his twenty odd inventions void as money-making endeavours.

He had thrown himself at his formerly neglected fairy research after the eleventh letter had arrived, since their prejudice had practically _slaughtered_, for the lack of a better word, his most lucrative plan. Artemis had expected prejudice from his father's former business partners but he had hoped it did not exist.

Artemis smiled grimly. _I have to stop my habit of hoping for things. Hope cannot be used for everything. Except for the fairies…_

Since he had begun his research, Artemis had regretted not pursuing this area of study with more earnest.

_There are no concrete pieces of evidence whatsoever for the existence of fairies. Or should I say, in accordance to so many legends, the People. But... the sheer number of stories, myths, legends and folk tales that exist have to point to a truth that most people have ignored. The People exist. It defies logic if they don't, as all legends contain a grain of truth, and there's a whole desert of metaphorical sand out there._

_How should I go about this? More internet trawling? But that last site..._

Artemis shook his head slightly. _Artemis,_ he told himself sternly_, do not falter. If you succeed in this enterprise, you will acquire enough funds to find Father. You WILL be able to find proof, you WILL be able to reach the People. Have patience._ He relaxed his frown with mirth.

_I sound like what Mother said when I nearly gave up on the blueprints for the Cessna motor last year._ The frown reappeared. _Now. About that proof..._

* * *

Sana quietly chewed a stalk of lettuce.

Had she known that Artemis was planning a way to help him on the way of exploiting the People, a plan that culminated in the kidnap of a certain LEP captain, Sana would have gasped in shock and tried to persuade her adopted brother out of it. But ever since she had met Opal, she had not thought about much other than Opal and how to help her take revenge for her parents' deaths.

_What's Opal going to make me do? She said call her next time I'm free, so that she can train me. But train me how?_

_Why's she being so nice anyway? I mean, I've been living here for ages now, and she comes see me now? Not before? And she's giving me a house. All to myself. And it's filled with the coolest things ever. Why would she give it to me anyway?_

Sana frowned. Why would anyone give away a house? Especially one so big and beautiful and filled with gadgetry at least five decades ahead of human technology? Was there some sort of 'ulterior motive'?

A mental nudge lightly touched her thoughts.

_Opal is so nice._ The corners of her mouth lifted a fraction. _Ulterior motives! Why would someone so nice and pretty have ulterior motives? I'm reading too many fantasy books! Besides, the evil people in the books are always ugly, smelly brutes with really gravelly or harsh voices. Opal's voice is so pretty, sometimes she speaks like she has a choir singing her words with her._

_I hope I can help her a lot... What can I do though? I'm only ten!_

Another mental nudge.

_Opal will know what to do. She's so cool. As long as I follow her directions, I'll be fine. I'll be helping her avenge Ma and Da._

* * *

Artemis pressed the intercom button beneath his desk.

"Butler, please come to the study," he said coolly. He cut off the connection without waiting for a reply and leaned back into his chair.

_Hmm, the chair back is too high for me. My head barely reaches half its height. I shall have to order a new chair._

At that moment, Butler entered the room, breaking Artemis' chain of thought.

"Yes, Artemis?"

"I will require these things to the exact specifications on the sheet." Artemis pushed a sheet of paper across the desk towards Butler.

"How long will it take to procure these objects?" Butler, scanning the list quickly, did some nearly instantaneous mental calculations in his head. He might not be able to do general arithmetic as quickly and as accurately as his master, but no one in the world could beat him at calculating standard bodyguard mathematics, including the angles for the fastest escape route, the shortest distance for the safest rescue mission, and the time it would take to get the items that the principal needed, even if the objects in question did not exist at the time.

"I have a contact in Limerick who'll be able to get all of these things, so it should take two days if I do it now."

Butler's contact in Limerick was someone who dealt exclusively with bodyguards, and he had been dealing with this particular bodyguard for over twenty years. With this one contact, Butler could obtain almost anything.

"Do you need to leave the manor?"

"No."

"Then go. When you are done, come back here. I've got more that I need you to do."

Artemis turned back to his computer screen and began to type again, filling the room with muted clacking of keys. He ignored, or had forgotten about, his bodyguard still standing in front of his desk. Butler, obviously dismissed, turned to go, locking his worry for his charge's behaviour into a large mental box. He already had two overflowing boxes of worry stored somewhere in his head.

**

* * *

**

KATS (Opal's über-fast shuttle)

A shrill ringtone jolted Opal from the depths of unconsciousness. Sitting up and looking around blearily, she reached over to her bedside table and hit a button.

"Hello?" she said into the phone, her voice heavily laden with sleep.

A soothing voice answered her. "Opal. It's Sana."

That woke Opal up properly. "Sana! What's wrong?"

"You said to call you when I had free time," the soothing voice said, "And I'm free for the next few weeks. The others are going somewhere to do something, and I'm staying at home, so do you want me to come over?"

"I'll come over in an hour. Meet you by the gates, okay?"

"Yeah, 'kay. Bye."

"Bye, Sana." With that, Opal pressed another button and terminated the call.

She looked at her clock. Nine o'clock in the daytime. Opal groaned. The Mud world's tendency to work during their daytime was wrecking havoc on her internal clock, used to sleeping from seven to seven during those hours. What happened to sleeping to avoid the hot, glaring ball of flame that was the Sun? She had had to put on various lotions before and after going outside under that blistering thing.

But… if she could train up Sana to become the pivot for her scheme, in accordance to her plan, then her discomfort was worth it. All of it. Besides, Opal had _reinforced_ some of her persuasion before, so the girl should now be listening to her as if every word was gold and thinking of her as 'the bestest person ever'.

She frowned. Or whatever Mud children said, the untrained, unsophisticated things. Not that she expected Sana's vocabulary to be so crude as to say 'bestest', since her magic should be helping Sana write or speak eloquently for a ten-year-old.

Opal looked at the clock again. Nine-ten. She really should be getting ready to meet Sana. But her bed was so comfortable…

She really needed to change the voice on her communicator. This particular communicator had been developed by Koboi Laboratories to allow even deaf and dumb people speak to their loved ones, and worked by scanning and analysing brain waves and the minute movements that people did when they communicated. When she had developed this, it had revolutionised communication. It had also made Foaly start wearing a tinfoil hat.

Opal smiled at the ridiculous image of her rival, and then frowned delicately, her contemplation returning to her initial thought. The voice was too… cold. Too machinated. She wanted a voice that could reflect the emotions and inflections that people put into their speech. Even though there was a different voice for each gender, it lacked vitality.

Nine-seventeen.

Opal jotted 'new voice development' down onto her mental to-do list next to 'wings' and 'live feed cameras' and reluctantly got out of bed. Before she could work on those intellectually challenging projects, she had a girl to meet.

* * *

Before she left, Opal opened the door to Merv and Scant's room, about to get them to do something, but then shut the door gently and walked away.

Oblivious to the workings of their boss, who had just driven off in her sports car, Merv and Scant slept peacefully, undisturbed. Their hands were entwined, as they have been since the day they were born.

**

* * *

**

Sana's house, from now to be referred to as Jörmungandr

Sana sat cross-legged in the large dojo-like area, facing Opal, sitting in a swivel chair at odds with her surroundings. The last time Sana had seen something like this, it had been Butler's dojo, and the only things inside were wooden floors and yoga mats. Not one swiveled cushioned chair in sight.

Opal opened her mouth to speak. "Jörmungandr."

The pixie laughed as Sana stared at her in confusion. "That's what I'd like to call this house. I know I've given you this house already, but do you mind me naming it?"

Sana nodded in understanding, and then grinned.

_I don't mind. That sounds cool. What does it mean?_

"It's the name of a Nordic mythological serpent so big he can circle the Earth and still swallow his tail. I thought it'll be a good name for this house, especially in regards to the plan for avenging your parents."

_You still haven't told me the plan yet. What is it? What are we doing? What type of training are we going to be doing?_

Opal shook her head. "I'll tell you, but not before I do something." Opal slid smoothly out of her chair and onto the floor, also sitting cross-legged. "And don't bother asking what it is. It's a surprise." She beckoned with one finger. "Come here and sit in front of me."

Curious, Sana scooted forward.

"Turn around so that your back's facing me."

The girl turned around obligingly. _Is this good?_ she wrote with a questioning glance at Opal.

Opal nodded, smiling. "Now I want you to breathe in for five counts, hold for five counts, exhale for five counts, and then hold again for five counts."

After making sure Sana was following her instructions, Opal closed her eyes and breathed deeply, sinking into a meditative state. She placed both hands onto Sana's shoulder blades, reaching into her mind to find her magic, and then, both mental hands grasped full of magic, shot them through her actual hands and into Sana, deep in a meditative state.

Magic did not affect the physical body when it was not injured, and since Sana was completely fine (Opal had made sure of it by shooting Sana with a few blue sparks on the way to their current location) the lack of response in her physical body channeled all that magic into her brain, sparking all the mental connections to life.

Opal had, in the past few weeks, read many books on the human brain and psychology. It had appalled her that Mud people only used ten percent of their brain. By shooting magic into Sana's brain, she hoped to open a lot more of the girl's brain to her use.

She was also almost certain that the new brain space would give Sana's subconscious so much exultant joy that it would let her speak again. But she didn't know, wasn't certain. There were other human-fairy hybrids, but there weren't many. Opal, as a result, didn't know the definite results of flushing Sana's brain with magic – which she hated, this not-knowing – but her own intellect told her that it would be fine.

What her intellect hadn't expected was the roar of blue fire flooding the girl's entire being. Shaken, she withdrew, and opened her eyes.

Sana was encased in a shroud of blue lightning, sparks occasionally flying off the lightning storm.

_Who would've thought that she had so much magic trapped within her being? Her mother's fairy heritage may have added to her conscious magic and forged a door to this considerable power, allowing her to use this magic, but I have just broken the dam and allowed it to become part of her._

Opal shivered, half delighted, half intimidated. _Maybe all humans have this potential locked inside their ninety-percent of unused brain space. But if they do, I'm glad they can't access it._

_I will need to amend my plans to take this into consideration._

Opal returned to her swivel chair, positioning it in front of the seated girl, and began to change her plan for world-domination.

_With this magic, Section 1 Part II C becomes possible, as does Section 3 Part V B. Section 1 Part II A will need to become..._

After long minutes, the magic finally subsided, sinking into Sana's skin, until she once more looked like a normal girl. Opal polished the last bits of her plan, gleeful at the things that could now be accomplished with Sana's magic. After setting her plan into permanent memory, Opal regarded the human-fairy hybrid in front of her.

"Sana."

At her name, the ten-year-old opened her eyes. Still the customary hazel, but now with an electric blue edge around her iris. Opal shivered once more at the sight.

Sana looked at the pixie blankly before smiling delightedly, as if she had just received the best Christmas present ever, even if Christmas was more than a few months away.

"Hi, Opal."

* * *

**So we slowly enter the mess that Opal has devised for both the human world and the fairy world. Poor poor Sana, being manipulated by a psychotic fairy into doing this. I don't think she even realises what she's doing. :/**

**See you next time! Which, I hope, will be soon 3**


End file.
